Courtship of Pure Hearts
by BloodDrenchedRose
Summary: When Amara meets the new guy at school, the fur goes flying! But as the days go by, she realizes he's the new target...and that she's got strong feelings for him. Rated T just in case, except for Chapter Sixteen.
1. Prologue

**A/N: This is a fanfic based in the **_**Sailor Moon S**_** season, before the sacred talismans were found. What if Amara were to fall in love with a guy she had just met?**

**I own none of the characters…or the series…or even all of Tokyo. (That's depressing….)**

"**Courtship of Pure Hearts"**

BloodDrenchedRose

"**PROLOGUE"**

He stepped through the gate and graciously noticed how it swung without a sound. He wasn't supposed to be here at this hour, but he needed some place out in the open so he could think. The house wouldn't' do much because the four walls were bound to suffocate him. So he had chosen to walk…until he found this place.

He continued to traipse the area, his eyes slowly becoming adjusted to the dark. Up a few steps gleamed the silver metal of bleachers, and he smiled to himself. The perfect spot with no one else around to bother him. Never had he been so fortunate in his life.

As soon as he reached the first row, he sat down and let out a huge sigh. The pressures of the day unwound themselves from around his chest, letting him breathe somewhat easier. Paying for the house had left him wanting to bum money off of everyone he saw. Getting some food was going to be the hardest thing yet. He might have to get a full-time job, but he had to get back to school.

This one seemed perfect enough. Crossroads High School. Nothing else was in his zone, and it was a short distance away. He could walk here, walk back…sit in silence for the longest time.

Bored.

"I need a cat," he muttered to himself. "Something that doesn't take away the rest of my energy, but also keeps me company. And sane."

Something on the dirt track caught his eye. He looked down to see the silhouette of a figure silently running around the seemingly large arena. Swiftly, the person moved as fast as the wind. Probably thought he was the only one there….

As he rounded the last curve, the runner stopped, gasped for breath. Walked a few paces until the guy stood in front of where he was sitting. "You're not supposed to be here," came the breathless alto voice.

His eyes widened. _This is…a woman?_ It was hard to tell because of the boyishly-cut hair, the somewhat muscular build. That was all he could make out of this night runner since the light of the moon was partially hidden behind a cloud.

But he couldn't help but smile. "Oh, I know. But neither should you at this time of night."

The woman crossed her arms, perhaps glaring at him right this minute. This defensive stance of hers piqued his interest. "I have special permission," the girl said after a while.

"Special permission, eh? You a spy or something?"

"Of course not!"

"Then what's your _special permission_?" His smile became wider. "Oh, I get it. You're trespassing!"

"If I were trespassing, I'd be no different than you. Sneaking in through the gate…. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I have special permission," he said, mocking her with a smirk.

The feminine growl sent a shiver down his spine, and he chuckled just to rile her up even more. It seemed to work because she marched over to the bleachers, grabbed the metal fence, and seemed to be giving him the look of death. "I could come up there and teach you a lesson," she said quietly, the tenor of her voice amusing him even more.

"Then why don't you? Too unladylike, _girl_?" He put emphasis on the last word.

She took one step back, and it registered in his mind as shock. Part of him actually felt sorry for this woman, but it was fun to pick on her like this. Something…sparked with everything that was said.

For some reason, he wanted more moments like this.

"Seriously," the girl said. "Why are you out here? I'm sure you have a family, a girlfriend. A wife…."

"Wife." He snorted. "Too young to get married. I'm only fifteen." He thought for a while, then leaned forward to try and see her more closely as he voiced his ideas aloud. "Unless…you'd be willing to fit the job's description."

There was a slight gasp, a shift in position. Her shoulders rose a fraction, her arms wrapping tighter around her waist. The silence stretched long and tight between them, and he was about to say something else before a whisper floated on the wind. "Just go. I don't want to see you again."

His eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Get out of here! Before I call the cops on you!"

"Look, lady. Nobody would be able to come quickly and arrest me. They come get me for trespassing, they'll lock you up as well. Special permission or no. You'd spend the night in the jail because nobody will be coherent enough to come pick you up. And I bet that won't look good on your track record, eh, sweetheart?"

She seemed to think about this for a while, all silent again save for a few crickets. He wished he could see her face, watch the expressions running along her features. She was probably using the silence to her advantage.

Suddenly her body pivoted to the left, and she began to quickly walk away.

"Wait!" he called after her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going home!"

"Why? I'm not going to hurt you!"

"I came here to train! Then you showed up and…." She growled and threw up her hands. "Why even bother with you? You're so exasperating!"

He sighed heavily and jumped up, bolted down the steps, and ran towards the infuriating woman. He grabbed her by the shoulders and roughly spun her around. "Oh, _I'm_ exasperating?" he muttered to her. "So are you, you know?" His hands tightened on her shoulders as he narrowed his eyes even more. "Go ahead. Teach me a lesson. I know you want to."

"Let…me…go!" She tried shoving him away. "Or I'll--"

"Or you'll scream? That's what babies do." He sighed again. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She stopped squirming and stared up at him. He thought he saw a mixture of blue and green--mostly green--in her eyes, the moon finally coming out for the show.

"I came here to think, and I have a feeling that you have, too. So let's just settle our differences and…." His voice trailed off as he saw the mixture turn into a darker shade of green. He brought her closer just so he could get a better look.

The woman's body stiffened. "What are you--?"

He knew he was too close for her comfort. But that didn't matter to him at all He had a feeling she was as beautiful as her eyes were, but the moon only allowed him to see only that part of her. And he made sure to commit it to memory.

Her scent drifted up to him at the moment, the soft smell of lilacs. Never had something like that intoxicated him before. Such a soothing smell that relaxed his nerves….

The feel of her in his grasp was invigorating…and he wondered what she might taste like. Maybe it would be sweet. Soft…fiery like her personality seemed to be….

He leaned forward a little and prepared to seek her out.

She suddenly wrenched herself out of his hold, her eyes fading from his view again. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

He blinked his eyes, shook his head to clear it. "I…don't know…." About to kiss a girl he didn't know, of course. A bad move to make for someone like him. He wouldn't deny that it was one think he wanted to do at this strange moment in time, though.

"You're all the same," the woman growled, and the darkened image of her clenched her fist. "Trying to get the same thing, no matter what it takes."

He narrowed his eyes. "We're not--hey!"

She had turned around again, stalking away once more. "Beat it, jerk!"

"But…." His lips curved into another smirk. "I have to say that you look very beautiful!"

He couldn't' help but laugh as her power-walk turned into a full-out run.

Beautiful. She scoffed. Just a neat little saying to sweep all the girls off their feet. All the girls except her. There's no way, not with any of the stories she's heard.

She felt the heat cross her face, and she knew it wasn't because of the exercise she was doing right now. But mainly…how she had felt his scrutiny. How he had gazed into her eyes, how his own had darkened to an even darker emerald. And once she felt his eyes drift to her lips…she became scared.

Never had anybody looked at her that way. And never had she felt this way about a man. Would she be able to look him in the eye if she saw him again? Would she even be able to recognize him?

Would she ever stop acting like a girl?

The blush became deeper. "This is ridiculous…" she breathed out. "Just because you met a guy…doesn't mean you can act like…such a woman…. You can…still be yourself…."

She didn't think anybody could be the same after something like _that_, though.

Skidding to a stop, she growled and sat on the cement sidewalk underneath her. "Wife…" she panted. "That's the stupidest proposition I've ever herd from a jerk like him in my entire life…!" Then she shook her head. "Sweetheart…? And how dare he say…Izuroku won't bail me…out of jail…."

Minutes passed by, and she let her breathing slow to a reasonable pace. There was no reason to be out here, except to make herself fall asleep. She had merely opened her eyes at 3:30 in the morning and couldn't drift back to sleep. So she had chosen to go out to run on the track.

Now she was run out of her own haven. By a man she had never seen before. Unless you count a shadow….

So she was helpless. Hopeless. And _really_ not wanting to walk back into the house, accidentally wake Michelle (even though she was a long ways away from the front door, unlike _her_ room), and struggle to try and get some rest until 6:00, when her alarm woke her up for school.

She stood up again and prepared for the rest of her journey home. Wouldn't take her long…if she ran the rest of the way. But she needed to take things slowly, which was somewhat so unlike her. Instead of being forever quick and stubborn, she chose to slow things down and let the world thin that she was passive. Cool. This was to keep others from knowing that she was Sailor Uranus.

Michelle was bound to know that she had gone missing early this morning. And know something was up, also. But she wouldn't mention anything about it, just wait until it was a good time to ask. Which was almost perfect timing, she guessed.

But too many details wouldn't be able to slip this time. No, this was _her_ problem.

"Ooh, if I ever see that guy again…" she ground out. But no ideas of torture could come to mind. Something entirely different did, though. Something that scared her as much as that near-kiss.

The real thing.

She winced, shook her head as she blushed again. Kissing him. What an absurd idea! But one part of her was intrigued, wanting to turn back, run to him, and just--

"No!" she gasped, slapping herself in the face. "You're going insane! Lack of sleep, that's what it is…. Yeah, you're going to go back home, walk through the front door, and get some more sleep." She groaned and slapped herself again. "Great, I'm now talking to myself!"

The next twenty minutes were walked through in silence. She reached the gigantic mansion with relief, her eyelids finally threatening to slide shut of their own volition, whether she liked it or not.

She slowly yet silently stumbled in a tired haze all the way to her bedroom. Closed the door, walked the few extra paces to her bed, and simply collapsed. Her eyes slid shut, her hand reaching out to flip the alarm's switch on, seemingly forgetting to when she had _first_ turned in for the night.

"I need to be wide awake at six…" she muttered to herself as she slipped away. "Don't need…too many…questions…."

The last image that flashed through her head was of a young man with emerald green eyes, his long and calloused fingers gripping her arms in a firm yet gentle hold.


	2. Chapter One

**A/N: A few people might have had problems with my prologue last week. I should have mentioned somewhere in that author's note that it was most likely OOC, but I wasn't thinking clearly around that time.**

**I haven't seen any of the anime since last year through Blockbuster DVDs. I am basically struggling to write this entire thing based on my memories of the entire thing. That and the website with various episode summaries (Castle in the Sky, mostly).**

**Thanks for attempting to be patient with me yet again. If you have problems with this fanfic, though, I suggest you don't go past this point...**

**-BDR**

"**CHAPTER ONE"**

Amara Ten'ou sighed as she turned off the ignition, forcing her grip to loosen its hold on the steering wheel. She always hated the morning after her nightly escapades, where she'd be jittery and wound up so tightly it wasn't even funny. She was surprised she hadn't snapped at Michelle this morning.

She was surprised she had gotten them to the school alive this morning.

The trip here nearly got her a speeding ticket once they exited the driveway, stress pushing her accelerator nearly to the floorboard. To make matters worse, she had passed a stop sign without slowing down until it was too late. Then nearly ran over a cat that decided it was going to pop out of nowhere and almost become a kitty pancake.

But all was well...for now.

Her hands finally slipped from the wheel and into her lap, shaking from the pressure she had put on them for the thirty-minute drive. _It's all because of him,_ she recited in her mind. _It's all because of him!_

"Amara?" she heard Michelle's contralto voice asked. "Are you okay? You're awfully quiet."

Amara glanced to her right to see the aqua-haired woman looking back at her, her blue eyes filled with a combination of concern and curiosity. She shook her head in reply, signaling that she didn't want to talk about it. Never would. Not while that man was out there, still breathing air into his lungs. She'll make him pay for...what, exactly?

The one person she ever had a problem with besides the enemy. There was just something about him that rubbed her the wrong way.

Maybe because he was the only guy who had touched her without hatred fueling his intentions. It still—dare she say it—scared her because it had been a different situation, and nothing had been able to quickly come to mind. Her weakness caused her to run.

_It's all because of him..._

"Your ire is showing."

Amara blinked, a startled gasp let out at the simple comment. Her eyes flicked to her rearview mirror, and she saw the dark blue tint of her irises. She clinched her teeth, balled one hand into a fist, and opened the car door of her yellow convertible. "It's nothing," she muttered. "Nothing to worry about."

"All right," came the sighed response. Her younger cousin followed her lead, stepping out into the gravel parking lot and swiftly walking away. "I don't believe you," the woman called out. "But I swear I'll drag it out of you, Amara Ten'ou."

She didn't answer with a comeback like most people would. There was no point at all. Michelle was right, she would find out somehow or another. Until then, all she could do was attempt to calm down and forget.

A pair of emerald green eyes flashed in her memory, the vividness of the image forcing her to lean against the car door. How could she remember them so clearly? She had only seen them once in her entire life, and yet...

She pounded her fist against the door, narrowing her eyes. "This is ridiculous," she muttered, using the same words she had uttered last night on her way back to the mansion. "I see Kyo every day, and he doesn't make me feel this way. So why should _this_ guy?"

But Kyo scared her differently. Every weekend, every time she did something right—in his case, something wrong—she paid the price for her actions. It was always the same. Yet she never fought back, no matter how many times she heard her mind yell out orders.

It was a miracle she always (somehow) came out with a few minor bumps and bruises that would fade the next morning. If a few injuries just happened to remain on her arms, she would use her uniform to cover them up.

Until winter faded into spring and then summer. Then she had to come up with excuses. If she were to tell the truth, Kyo would kill her. And she couldn't let that happen.

She couldn't die until she and Michelle—Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune—found the three sacred talismans. The Space Sword. Deep Mirror. Garnet Orb.

Amara shook her head and pushed her body away from her vehicle. The only thing to keep her sane. Her mission. The main reason she was called here. She'd do anything to get her hands on them, even if it meant risking her life and the target's. And it didn't matter what Miss Moon and her little group of friends form the Target Protection Agency of Japan could say or do about it.

Right now, she hoped her newly-found constant jitteriness wouldn't interfere with the next battle with a Heartsnatcher. Or else she wouldn't hear the end of it for a week.

Or three.

Not that Michelle would yell at her.

She started walking down the Crossroads Senior High parking lot, steadily making her way to the courtyard. It was all she was set on doing for the next ten minutes, going to the grassy area and taking a nap. Two hours never helped anybody, and it felt like the first four hours and thirty minutes never even existed in the first place. Based on past experience (four weeks ago), she would find that the day seemed longer than usual. She might fall asleep in class. She might fall asleep _on her way_ to class.

And her reflexes would either be heightened or slowed, depending on what type of day it was and what was thrown at her.

She tried her best to keep herself from yawning. She could have fought the urge to go to the track at 3:30 in the morning. Sure, it would prove the be as hard as not racing at all, or even like telling Neptune that checking pure hearts was a waste of time. Yet...something dragged her there. It was like she _had_ to go.

So with a mixture of curiousity, restlessness, and a large amount of insomnia, she had gotten out of the house and proceeded to head off to the track.

Big mistake.

Now she couldn't stop calling herself an idiot.

Now she had to deal with the consequences of lack of sleep.

Now she had to deal with the memories and even the dreams she had had in the course of two hours' time.

Perfect. Just what she needed.

Her feet finally making it to the green grass of the courtyard, Amara forced herself to go a little ways further until she reached the base of a tree. She sat down with a soft sigh, leaned her head against the rough bark, and closed her eyes.

Everything around her seemed to swirl in a vast darkness. All sounds mixed together, the volume slightly increased. Her mind unwound itself from the strain she had put on it, images and colors fusing and blurring into something indecipherable. And slowly, she let herself slip into a world only known by her and no one else...

"Watch out!" a chorus of male voices shouted.

Amara jolted back to reality, looked up to see a softball hurtling n her direction, the white sphere zeroing in on its target at an alarming rate. Every muscle in her body stiffened, her eyes narrowing as she watched it sail closer...closer...closer...

Before it had a chance to hit her square in the nose, she quickly reached into the air and snatched the ball, the _smack_ against her palm echoing loudly in the now-quiet courtyard.

"Wow..."came the murmur after a while. "Ten'ou caught it..."

She had never lowered her arm, but her eyes flitted around the area. No one seemed to be the culprit, but even enemies had a way of becoming inconspicuous when it came to their latest crimes.

Even enemies had a way of sealing their identities away from truth-seeking minds.

Tired of trying to do this the hard way, she glared at everybody within the seeing range, her blood boiling to a dangerous degree. "Who threw it?" she asked lowly.

There was a low chuckle coming from up ahead, the sound vaguely familiar. "I guess you caught me," the bass voice answered. The low timbre also sparked recognition, thought she couldn't exactly where she ahd heard it before. He continued by saying, "Just like you caught that ball."

Her arm lowered slowly, her hand relaxing the rock-hard projectile that would have probably knocked her out had she not been alerted so early. There was a boy not much older than she was standing a little ways away from her, smirking as he ran a hand through his already-unruly dark brown hair. His eyes were so far away that she couldn't tell what color they were, and she was partially tempted to stand up, march over to him, and find out.

Partially. But she chose not to.

"Hello, Rip Van Winkle," the newcomer drawled. "Plan to sleep for the next hundred years?"

Amara growled at him, prepared to get up and tackle him right then and there. "Of course not, " she said instead. "I'm wide awake."

The new guy snorted, crossed his arms over his chest. "Sure you were. All fully concious people have their eyes closed and look like they're about to start snoring." He took one step forward. "Although...not everybody could pull a stunt like _that_. I'm almost convinced you're not really human."

She clenched her teeth, one of her hands balling into a fist. "What else could I possibly be if not human?"

He shrugged a shoulder, tilted his head to the slide a bit and said, "I don't know. You look more like a demon in this perspective."

That does it! Not even five minutes have passed and she was already tired of this freak! "I'll show _you_ demon..." she grounded out, grasping the white ball again.

"Oh, what are you going to do? Use your demonic powrs to turn that thing into a fireball? I'm so scared!" He then began to laugh.

Everybody else began backing away. They knew her pretty well. Knew that it took a lot to rile her up and that bad things could happen once you got on her bad side. It was time he learned the hard way. And fast.

A younger girl, one with shoulder-length bright purple hair and yellow eyes, looked at her with a mixture of fear and curiosity. Her head shook subtly from side to side.

Why single out one girl when there were fifteen others in the same area?

It didn't matter. What _did_ matter was this weird feeling sitting in the middle of her gut. It was anger, yes, but also something completely different. Something she had never felt before in her life.

This odd mixture caused her to give him another chance to make amends. "Actually, I'm just going to throw it at you. It'll just _feel_ like a fireball."

Out of the corner of her eye, Amara saw the girl violently shake her head now, running a finger across her throat. Who did she think she was?

She didn't care. All she wanted was to see what this idiot would do next.

"I bet you'll miss. Everybody I've met who's given me the same threat has bad hand-eye coordination. You're likely to be the same."

Amara's eyse narrowed even more at this boy. "Oh, really?"

"I'm never wrong about these things. Face it, you're too weak to take on a challenge like this."

She blinked. Every muscle in her body except for the one holding the ball loosened. "To...weak...?" she repeated quietly. _Seems like my temper isn't the only thing he's going to learn about me during his stay._

The man nodded his head. "Are you in or are you out, Kiddo?"

Amara stood up quickly and reeled back her arm. "Definitely in!" she exclaimed as she let it loose.

The cry of pain intertwined with the sound of the bell. She smirked as she turned around and headed towards the building. Couldn't help but let one word drift on the wind as she left.

"Sucker."

**A/N: For those of you who are just now getting an email saying that this is a new chapter, I'm sorry! The first time I posted this, it cut off in the wrong spot, so I had to go over it again and retype where it left off...**

**-BDR**


	3. Chapter Two

**A/N: You guys have most likely figured out that every Tuesday, I will be posting a new chapter. Just to make things easier on me, because I don't know what all I'm doing for the next five...and I'm already almost finished with Chapter Four... Oh well!**

**This is the chapter where the aforementioned Kyo is going to show up for the first time. I hope this one ends up running smoothly.**

**Enjoy!**

"**CHAPTER TWO"**

"Well, how about that?" a voice said from above her. "Fancy seeing you here, friend."

Amara lifted her head to look at the jerk on her right, who was placing his bag beside the chair next to hers and sitting down. She stifled a groan, one out of part annoyance and part...pleasure? "I'm not your friend," she simply told him.

He blinked his eyes, then smirked and rubbed a hand on the red spot on his face. "Yeah, I can tell. You throw pretty hard."

"Not bad for someone with bad hand-eye coordination. I thought you were never wrong about that type of thing."

He narrowed his eyes now, the emerald green depths glittering in the light. "Ever had someone say that you are the most annoying smart-aleck alive?"

"Maybe not. But I'll take it as a compliment."

"A compliment from someone who nearly murdered you with a softball?"

"Stop talking to me," she said with a small moan, putting her head back on the folded arms on her desk. "You're making my head hurt."

The guy chuckled. "Oh, poor baby. Am I really causing you that much stress? Maybe I can do something to help."

"You can start by leaving me alone!" She shook her head the best she could, closing her eyes and preparing for her nap. "Sometimes you can be such a pain..."

"A pain, eh? At least I now know your opinion of me."

"Don't you ever shut up? Geez!"

A long pause stretched between them, setting her on edge. Sure, she had wanted him to shut up for some time now, but... She was kind of surprised when he actually did.

Amara's mind suddenly flashed back to the night before. To that strange man who had held her, his emerald gaze boring into hers.

Her eyes snapped open, every muscle in her body going rigid. Emerald green... The same color as this guy's. But they couldn't be one and the same, the mystery man was older than her!

"...Too young to get married. I'm only fifteen..."

Good God. He was the same age as her.

Wait. If she could recognize him by looking at his eyes, he'd be able to do the same with hers. And she couldn't let that happen. If she stayed mad at him for the rest of eternity...

This could be harder than she thought.

Amara slightly turned her head and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. The now-silent, newly-identified mystery man slid on a pair of thin-framed glasses, reading a pocket-sized book that he had produced out of nowhere.

Seems like he had other, much better things to do than pick on her. It shocked her beyond belief, and she was somewhat grateful. Another part of her, though, wished he would bother her again. Just for the heck of it.

He looked so serious flipping through the small paperback novel. A complete turnaround compared to just a few minutes ago. Every once in a while, his eyes would narrow slightly—just slightly—but then he would look as though that small movement had never occurred.

She tried to look away, but she couldn't stop staring at him. Shouldn't have looked his way in the first place... A few of his bangs hung in his eyes, and she struggled to keep herself from leaning over and brushing them away. His eyes twinkled, now a lighter green than before. A small smile curved his lips, a smile that was barely noticeable and couldn't be seen unless you were looking closely.

Just like she was...

"How long are you going to keep that up?"

Amara gasped, her eyes growing wide as she glanced up to see him looking back at her. She quickly turned her head away to keep him from spotting the blush—oh, such rarity!—that flooded her cheeks. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said quietly.

"So I didn't catch you staring at me like some lust-crazed female who's about to jump a guy?" He chuckled. "You don't seem like that type of person."

"Because I'm not." But her face became even warmer, her hand grasping her uniform jacket in embarrassment. The gesture was hidden from his view, and she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes again for fear of what her own would tell him.

The soft sound from her right signaled that he had closed his book. The slight creaking telling her that he was putting his weight on the desktop. The word he uttered was so quiet, she thought she was imagining things. "Allen."

The fist clenching her jacket became tighter, her heart picking up a little. This was so unlike her, yet she couldn't help it one bit. "What?" she forced out.

"My name is Allen Toriyama."

"And you're telling me this...why?"

There was a small pause—again—before he continued. "Well, since I nearly killed you this morning, I thought it'd be great if you knew who I was. You know, a name to a face."

"Don't be expecting a thank-you letter to be sent to you in the mail."

"Thanks for giving you my name or thanks for not murdering you?"

"Perhaps both."

This time he laughed. "Wow. You must hat me or something."

Or something.

Amara's eyes widened. The thought had been sudden, unable to be stopped. She didn't let herself look into it, though. Instead, she merely shrugged her shoulders. "Does it matter?"

"Maybe not."

Her lips curved into a small smile of her own, and she was glad he couldn't see it. She just continued to wait out this silence and see what he would say next...

A hand clamped itself onto the top of her head, fingers clenching into a fist. She was suddenly wrenched out of her chair and soon looking into crystal blue eyes. "Good morning, Ten'ou," the baritone voice bit out.

Her eyes narrowed and she clenched her teeth. "Let me go!" she growled.

"Why should I? I just wanted to have a nice heart-to-heart with my...friend."

"So you've got to grab me like that instead of being a normal person and tap me on the shoulder?"

"Come on, you know me better than that. You know how I'd just love to see you tortured."

"You need to release me right this minute. Or else word will get back to Izuroku and he'll kick you off the team."

"Ever wonder why I haven't been kicked off in the past?"

She flinched at this revelation. Now that he mentioned it, she didn't want to know. For all she figured, it probably involved threats or actions that could never be mentioned. Like murder. Or rape. Which the latter, he was known for.

The newcomer ran a hand through his flaxen blonde hair. "So, Ten'ou. Excited about the race this Sunday?"

Amara groaned inwardly. The race. Somehow, she had completely forgotten about it. That "somehow" being Allen Toriyama. But she glared at her offender again and told him what she felt from the bottom of her heart and from the deepest recesses of her mind. "I don't need any added stress from you, Kyo. Crawl back into your little hole."

Kyo Musashi's eyes soon had little red flecks in them, something that frightened her perhaps more than her reactions to Allen. She swore she saw veins popping out on his forehead. And didn't feel the least bit worried about him.

But his fist lifted itself in front of her face as he snarled, "You take that back, brat!"

She flinched, fully prepared for the pain that came from his fist colliding with her jaw….

Her hair was released with little to no suffering involved on her part. She opened one eye to see Kyo about three feet away, clutching the side of his face and panting for breath. Her mind fought to come up with a conclusion as to what had happened. Stupidly, she figured she had somehow acquired psychic powers that allowed her to attack her enemies without even touching them. Or maybe she had subconsciously hit him, breaking through her fear once and for all.

But then she looked over to see Allen with his arm outstretched, his fist tightly closed and his own breath coming out heavily. "That's enough!" he said.

The sandy-haired girl looked at him in shock. After all the emotional distress she had given him, this was how he repaid her. It didn't seem fair. She was grateful, yes, but also very confused. Why would he stand up for her like that?

Kyo glared back at her rescuer, the red flecks more visible now than ever. Great, she thought. Now he's gonna kill the both of us and it's all your fault…. The blonde boy stepped forward once, twice, three times and prepared to sock Allen in the face.

The latter was quicker, then grabbed Kyo by the collar of his white uniform shirt, Dragged him even closer until they were face-to-face. "No one talks to Ten'ou like that," he snarled.

Amara swore Kyo's face shone with fear for about three seconds, but then he smirked and soon began laughing. "Oh, this is priceless! Seems like you've gotten yourself a boyfriend. And it's the new guy, no less!"

Allen looked like he was about to kill the guy himself when Amara put a hand on his wrist. "No," she said quietly.

His emerald eyes flashed dangerously with malice. "He shouldn't have been messing with you like that." The muscles in his arm became even tighter than before.

"Believe it or not, I can stand up for myself. Now, let him go."

The way he hesitated, she thought he was going to shake her off and finish what he had started. But he reluctantly shoved Kyo away, gently lowering his arm. The murderous intensity in his eyes never wavered. "Beat it, punk."

Kyo didn't look the least bit frightened, just walked off with a chuckle.

Amara turned and glared at the new guy. "That was stupid! Punching him like that. You could have gotten caught!"

"For defending someone? Hardly."

"It's Kyo's word against yours. You could have been expelled or even thrown in jail."

"Since when do you care?" he snapped.

She blinked at him, then released his wrist and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm just helping you out as a…." Her voice trailed off. They weren't friends, yet now they weren't enemies. Just acquaintances that seem to annoy each other.

Allen nodded his head and sat down. "Friend," he said.

"No, not 'friend'! That wasn't the word I was thinking of!"

"Then what were you thinking of?" he asked quietly.

She shook her head at him, her eyes narrowing. "That's not the point."

"What is, if you're so smart?"

Her shoulders lifted and fell in a nonchalant gesture, and she took a deep, calming breath. "I want to know why you stood up for me even though I was fully capable of doing it myself."

He seemed to mull it around in his mind for a while, his gaze never leaving her face. The emerald green orbs were back to normal again, no hint of malice visible from what she could see. And she was relieved.

Finally, his entire body turned away form her. Allen slid on his glasses again and picked up his book. "I didn't believe you."

Amara's jaw dropped. A few long moments passed before she was able to croak out, "You didn't--"

"Besides," he interrupted, "I noticed the way he was looking at you." He glanced at her again, the dark look back in his eyes. "Something tells me he wanted to do more than hit you with a softball."

**A/N: Next Tuesday, there will be another installment! Hope this one was good enough for everyone!**

**-BDR**


	4. Chapter Three

"**CHAPTER THREE"**

The same thought crept into her mind as she zipped around another curve.

"_Something tells me he wanted to do more than just hit you with a softball."_

Boy, that was the truth! Too bad—good thing—he didn't know the actuality of it all. There'd be trouble in River City if that bit of info were to be leaked to him. They'd both be digging their own graves by encountering Kyo Musashi again like that.

It was inevitable on her part, anyway. She couldn't help it if she was talented when it came to racing. The fastest in track, motorcross, anything that dealt with speed. The results were the same: first place with reviews from the second-best.

Quitting could have been an option. But she wasn't the type of person to give up just because of what someone else said. Getting to where she is now hadn't been easy, and there was nothing that anybody could say or do to change her mind.

Amara had escaped from seventh hour to go to the speedway. And here she was, at 4:30 that afternoon. No interruptions. Just how she liked it.

"We need to talk," she heard from her earpiece.

Her hands tightened on the handlebars at the sound of her younger cousin's voice. Right when she was getting into the flow of things... "Can it wait?" she replied lowly.

There was a sigh. "Amara. You've been here for three hours. Take a break."

Her eyes narrowed. Three hours wasn't enough. Taking a break wasn't even a choice for her to take. Michelle knew this, yet she had suggested it anyway? "You're being ridiculous."

"And you're being stubborn. As usual."

This fact made her smile. Stubbornness and practice worked hand-and-hand with each other, in her opinion. Three years of doing those two things paid off in the long run.

Dark green eyes flashed in her mind. Along with a pair of icy blue irises with flecks of blood red in them. _Talk about being stubborn._ The first day, and they were on opposing sides.

All because of her.

She shook her head to make the images fade. Once she reached her starting point on the track, she wheeled the motorbike into the lot. And was soon face-to-face with Michelle Kai'ou. "What is it?" she asked as she removed her helmet.

"I heard about the fight this morning," Michelle announced without pleasantries.

Amara glared at her. "From who?"

"Kyo's little sister."

She wrinkled her nose at the comment. "Kyo has a sister?" Who'd ever thought?

Michelle crossed her arms and gave her a pointed glance. "You've seen her plenty of times. She's been here for a few weeks, transferred here from a different high school."

"What's the twerp's name?"

The aqua-haired girl's eyes narrowed. "That _twerp's_ name is Latoya. She happens to be a sweet girl. Why do you have to be so hard on her?"

"Anybody related to Kyo has to be as much as a jerk as he is. Doesn't matter if I've never met her before." Amara climbed off of her bike and crossed her arms, mimicking the younger girl. "How'd she find out? I would have seen her, so she can't be in my homeroom."

"Kyo must have let it out somehow. They seem to be close." She put a finger to her chin and looked to the ground. "I feel a weird presence when I'm around them. It's strange."

"Like a new target?"

Michelle shook her head. "Nowhere close to that. It's like...someone's important to us..."

This made no sense whatsoever. One of the Musashis considered important? Not even possible...

"The girl came to me and told me what happened. Told me to warn you, that you couldn't go to Sunday's race."

"The Musashi girl's insane. I'm still going, no matter what." Amara walked past her cousin and into the locker room.

"No getting through to you, is there?" Michelle muttered. "You'd do anything to race, even if it meant risking your life."

Not exactly. But close. Kyo wouldn't kill her now, he'd have no one else to play with. That was the conclusion she was getting now. It's what crazed minds did. They found someone, messed with them a bit... Like a game of cat-and-mouse; cats don't kill their prey right on the spot, now do they?

Amara sighed and shook her head, walking into one of the stalls and leaving Michelle behind. "That's it?" she asked as she grabbed the dark blue duffel sitting on the bench.

"Actually...no."

Her hand stilled halfway into the bag. This didn't sound good. She had a feeling she was going to be asked to do something totally off the wall. "What else?" she asked with more than a bit of uncertainty.

A long, awkward pause. Then, "A few hours after the race, there's going to be...a get-together. A party of sorts. I wanted to see if you wanted to go."

Amara relaxed a little and smiled to herself. "What kind? Black-and-white formal?"

"More like a casual dress."

Okay. Sounds reasonable enough. "I'll see what I can scrounge up."

Another pause from Michelle. And with it returned the discomfort from before.

"They said all women had to show up in dresses. Men are the only ones who can wear suits. If not, they'll be thrown out."

It just got worse. "A dress?" Just the mere thought of it made her feel nauseated.

"Yes. All we have to do is go looking for one for you after school tomorrow, find one you might be interested in—"

"Whoa! Michelle! Find one I might _like?!_ You know that'll never happen! You know how I feel about feminine stuff like that!" Why was she even mentioning this concept? It was unheard of for her to give into this fight, so she wasn't going to...

"Ever thought that it's about time for you to be a girl and not a guy? You're fifteen years old. It's time for you to break free and do something different. You never know, you might like it."

"Maybe I don't want to...break free." Amara made a face at the phrase the younger girl had chosen, then shook her head and grabbed a pair of blue jeans out of her bag. "I like my life the way it is. Hassle-free, hardly any worries... Besides, we have the mission to think of."

"What does the mission have to do with anything?"

"If we're going to be searching for talismans, I'm gonna need a clear head. Those girlish matters will only complicate matters."

"Some of these girlish matters could make life easier to bear."

She rolled her eyes and slid on the jeans, reached for the plain white T-shirt and slid it over her head. "My life _is_ easy to bear."

"With the search for the sacred talismans and whatnot, I'd say it was full of stress."

"That's your opinion." And it hit the nail on the head, if you added Kyo Musashi and Allen Toriyama to the mix. Amara sighed, zipped up her bag and grabbed the handles. "What's next? You're gonna try and get me a date for this event? Is that a requirement, too?"

"No. But it'd be nice."

Nice? How about torture? And even if she considered this, it would be hard to get someone to do something like that for her. Amara Ten'ou, tomboy. Asking for a date? Completely unheard of.

"So...what do you say?"

Amara ran a hand through her sandy-blonde hair and actually considered this for a moment. Michelle so rarely asked her to do anything for her, so the answer was the same. There was no other alternative. The only way to get out of this argument was to agree. "Fine. I'll go."

"Great." The voice sounded distant, yet clear and jovial all the same. "Don't stay out too late."

Of course, that's what she'd be doing anyway.

"Thanks, Michelle," she muttered to thin air as she walked out of the locker room. "I really needed to add another thing to my list of dreads."

* * *

He watched her as she started to go down the sidewalk. Probably to that mansion she and her youngest cousin live in. After an added three hours, finally she had decided to leave!

The brat would have to pay one of these days. Crossing into his territory and acting like she owned the place. Swiping ever single win from his grasp. What had occurred this morning was only the beginning of the hell she was going to be going through in the next few days.

It was a shame that new guy had to show up before the fun began. That protective look in his eye was enough to make him laugh. Barely thirty minutes the boy had known the brat, and he had stood up for her.

Although they didn't seem like friends. More like two people who could only tolerate each other half of the time.

But it was interesting to watch.

Latoya had come to him during lunch, knelt in front of him and simply asked him what had been going on to make him smile. He had told his little sister about the small excuse of a fight. And about his plans for Sunday's race. Or the plans for _after_ the race. After everyone was gone.

She had protested, shaking her head violently. Her eyes were alight with a mix of pain and sorrow. Never met the brat or the cousin, but she seemed to respect them anyway.

She couldn't change his mind, though. He was still going through with it, no matter what the twerp had to say.

He trusted Latoya enough to know she wouldn't talk to anyone about his future plans. She knew what would happen if she did.

Oh, he wouldn't hurt her. Not as bad as he would Ten'ou. But just enough to let her know that her actions were not tolerated.

He never had to ask her if she _had_ told anyone. The twerp could never keep a secret. And if she'd done something wrong, she'd blurt it out anyway. So kind-hearted. So respectful.

It made him sick.

He laughed as he brought out his pocket knife and whet rock. Listened as the steel blade began to sing at a high-pitch against the sharpening tool. "They're all so weak," he muttered to the darkening sky. "So weak..."

Even those who claimed to be stronger than others.

And he had special ways of drawing out weaknesses.

"You better run fast, Ten'ou. I'm going to get you..."

**A/N: Things might seem like they're going to be even more OOC in the near chapters, but I don't intend on them being that way. I have no idea what I'm going to be doing in said chapters, so I'm basically going to be playing them by ear.**

**I have to admit that I had written this story before, but this is simply a revised version. I have most of the things in the original listed in here, but it's through a friend of mine that I have received encouragement to go through with this other version.**

**Thanks, Crys, and I'll see you tomorrow at school!**

**-BDR**


	5. Chapter Four

"**CHAPTER FOUR"**

"You really need to take some sleeping pills," a bass voice said the next morning. "You look worse off than yesterday.

Amara looked up to see Allen Toriyama hovering over her. She winced at the livid spot marring his right cheek, not quite remembering it being quite that big yesterday. "You don't look so good yourself."

"You care? I'm flattered." The brunette sat right beside her, crossed his arms over his chest. "But I think I'll live. Marks like this adds character, don't you know?"

She shook a head with a roll of her eyes. The guy was too full of himself, yet didn't seem to care about her outlook of his personality. So she didn't say a word about his recent comment. Just stared out across the vast area of the courtyard.

It was yet again morning. Michelle had probably gone up to the art classroom like she usually did, leaving Amara to do whatever she wished. Right now, like yesterday, she wished for a nap. But couldn't because of two reasons.

Number one: bell would ring any minute, and she didn't want to deal with any temperamental teachers if she just so happened to sleep past homeroom.

Number two: she now had to serve as Allen's entertainment.

"That guy hasn't bothered you anymore, has he?"

She looked at him to see concern darkening his emerald eyes. Not even friends, and yet he was asking about something so personal. "No," she finally told him. "But don't think it's because you scared him off."

Again, he had a lot to learn about this place. The constant mood swings, the murderous intentions of any provoked man. How everything wasn't as it seemed.

Definitely the latter.

Allen brought out the sliver, thin-framed glasses, then the same pocketbook he had the previous morning. That serious expression was back again, and Amara somehow swiveled her gaze to other things. Shook her head with a small sigh. "You're so…."

She felt him staring at her, but she didn't look at him again. Couldn't. "So…what?" he asked quietly. "So amusing? So intelligent? So--"

"So ignorant!" As she thought about this, she felt anger well up inside of her, and she couldn't help but go on. "You just don't get it. You haven't been here long enough to know whether or not you're able to take Kyo on, yet you're announcing it like it's some sort of actual fact. I'll tell you like I did yesterday, I can stand up for myself."

"And I'll do the same and say that I still don't believe you. You act tough, but you're nowhere close."

Amara narrowed her eyes. _You don't know half the battles I've been through. Most of them weren't even with humans._

Allen sighed, and she looked over to see him put his book down. He crossed his arms again and studied her closely. Then said, "You're the one who's ignorant."

"Why are you even talking to me about this? It's my business, so lay off."

"Why do you have to be so defensive?"

That's just it. She didn't know herself. There was just something about him that had made her feel strange ever since that first day. And since she didn't really like this weird feeling, she couldn't help but treat him this way.

Allen shook his head. "Fine. Don't answer."

"There are some things that _can't_ be answered," she told him quietly.

"There's a reason for everything, Ten'ou. Isn't there?"

He was right, and she let him know by a simple nod of the head. But even though there was a reason for everything, it'll take forever and a day just to figure out what said reason is. Sometimes a person will never find out the truth…which means _she _was correct as well. To an extent.

"All philosophy aside, you're still ignorant," he said with a slight smile. "Defensive. Stubborn. And--"

"Okay, I get it!" She looked away, her anger rising a few more notches. The hatred she felt burned in her chest, yet she didn't feel the slightest inclination to leave. Amara ran a hand down her face sand slowly exhaled a deep breath. "Why are you doing this to me?" she quietly moaned.

"You're easy to pick on." He nudged her arm with his own, reached up to tug on the sleeve of her uniform jacket. "Relax and live a little, Ten'ou. You're too uptight for your own good."

"Too…upti--you're the one causing all of this!"

"Oh, that's the thing to do. Blame it on the new guy."

"Hey! Everything was perfectly fine until you showed up!"

"Then tell me why that guy grabbed you like he's been doing it every day of your life."

"That's not your business. I already told you."

"But I'm involved now." He tugged on her sleeve again and sighed. "Go ahead and tell me. Your darkest secret isn't hidden to me anymore, because I witnessed it."

Amara stiffened, her eyes widening. She told herself that he was talking about the blows from Kyo, but she couldn't' help but think that he knew she was a woman, not a guy. Not necessarily a _dark_ secret, but it was a secret nonetheless.

She had to keep this from him. Once he found out she's a woman, he'll somehow know that she was the same woman he had tried to kiss the night before. And then….

"_You're all the same…. Trying to get the same thing, no matter what it takes."_

"Ten'ou."

"Kyo's just jealous," she told Allen. "I'm…better than him in some areas."

"Racing."

She looked up at him again, saw that his darkened emerald eyes were narrowed. "How did you--"

"That guy--Kyo--asked you about a race this Sunday. Putting two and two together, the end result would be that you're faster than him, he's jealous, and he makes you pay." He paused for a while before asking, "What kind of a race is it?"

"Motorcross." Just to be on the safe side, she couldn't mention track.

"Hmm…. Ever lost to the jerk?"

"Never."

Allen winced, cursing under his breath. "I think I understand now."

"He thinks I'm not supposed to be winning all the time because I'm--" She cut off, catching herself before she made one of the worst mistakes of her life.

"You're what?"

She shrugged her shoulders, waved a hand at him. "Nothing," she muttered.

"No, you were trying to say something. Now, what was it?"

_Because I'm a woman._ "Because he thinks he's greater than everyone else."

Allen wrinkled his nose. "That's childish. Anybody who thinks like that is destined to go down."

"Unless they happen to be right." There were times when she and Neptune went into battle, knew they were better than the low-lives who decide to call them teammates. Not once have they been close to biting the dust, not like the other six. Not once have they doubted their abilities. Or their mission.

"Anybody who thinks they're better than anyone else should be able to use their skills to help others instead of bashing their faces in. And if they find someone who might be even better than them, they should just walk on and stop whining about how unfair life is."

It was almost like he knew her well. Every bit of her, identity and all. But she shook her head at the thought of helping Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts. It was better to keep that bit of advice when talking about Kyo, because he couldn't possibly know she was Sailor Uranus….

"How long have you and Kyo known each other?" Allen asked after a while.

"Only a few months. I had transferred here not too long ago, and…I land myself in this situation."

"You live alone?"

Amara shook her head. "No. I live with my cousin Michelle."

"Is she in our homeroom?"

"No. She would have been the first one to try and break Kyo and me apart. Instead, they placed her in the hands of another teacher."

"Did she ever find out about the excitement we had yesterday?"

She smiled, remembering what Michelle had said about the girl Latoya. The stupid warning, the fact that the twerp was trying to earn her brother a win just by keeping her away. "Of course. Information gets to everyone pretty quickly. Especially if it's about Kyo and me."

"What'd she say about it?"

"Nothing. Just…told me about who she had heard it from." She sighed and shook her head. "Tried to get me to stay away from the track this Sunday. Made it sound like I'm gonna die…."

"Then you shouldn't go." His eyes narrowed. "There you go again, Ten'ou."

"What?"

"I hear they say that ignorance is bliss. If that's the case, then you must be having the time of your life."

"You can't expect me to run, Toriyama!"

"You're stubborn! Which do you want, to win or to die?"

Amara flinched, but still met his gaze head-on. "Winning is better, of course. My only choice is to go."

"Then I'm going, too."

She shook her head. "No, you're not!"

"Who else is going to keep you out of trouble? There's no telling what kind of a bind you might put yourself in."

"How many times do I--"

"Ten'ou! It doesn't mater how many times you try and tell me. If you end up going, chances are that you'll be kicked off the team. Permanently." Something flashed in his eyes, something akin to the anger she felt for him right now. "From what I can gather, not even Michelle's been allowed to try and bail you out of trouble. I stood up to him before, I can do it again."

"There's no way I'm going to let you--"

He suddenly grabbed her by the collar and yanked her closer to him. His eyes had darkened to the point where they appeared more black than green, though the latter was still there. A wave of fear shot through her at the sight, and she tried to cover it up the best she could. "Still having fun?" he grounded out.

She squeezed her eyes shut, turned her head away. "Trust me on this one, Allen!"

His hold slackened a bit, and she cracked open an eye to glance at him again. The dark expression was gone. Instead, she thought she saw…amazement. Wonder. And the mere sight of it made her relax as well. What was going through this infuriating man's head? What refrained him from possibly hurting her like he seemed he was about to do?

Why did it seem as though all time had stopped?

Allen slowly released her, crossed his arms over his chest, and let out a deep breath. "Fine. I'll trust you."

Amara blinked in surprise, stood to her feet. "Why did you…?"

"You're so annoying, the way you think you're so tough. But I guess that's why I'm here."

_What?_

He smirked. Shrugged his shoulders. "Friends break through those facades. And I'm not quitting until I do."

**A/N: In the next chapter, I think I mention Dr. Tomoe. It was supposed to be done in this installment, but everything was pushed forward at least one or two chapters. Thanks to this overworking imagination of mine.**

**Hope you enjoyed it!**

**-BDR**


	6. Chapter Five

"**CHAPTER FIVE"**

Dr. Tomoe chuckled in the poorly-lit laboratory of his, marveling at his new creation. "I believe this time, Kaorinite," he told his assistant, "we'll finally find the three sacred talismans."

"You could very well be right," the redhead replied with the usual sly smile. "So who's the victim this time?"

He shifted his hands around the pink seed, the image of his new target fully imprinted in his mind. "A young man who has recently enrolled in Crossroads Senior High School. He already has gotten himself a new friend. One he desires to protect with all of his power."

"Sounds like an intriguing project." Kaorinite chuckled. "I'll keep an eye on the Heartsnatcher. And the boy."

"Good. See to it that you don't fail. Now go!" And with that, he burst into crazed laugher, not noticing that his assistant had vanished out of sight.

* * *

The small pod flew through the air at breakneck speed, the destination already in mind. Kaorinite floated after it, the outside world oblivious to the sight of a hovering woman, and watched as it got to where it needed to be. Though everyone else was absorbed in only themselves, it never hurt but make sure that all went according to plan, proving why she followed it every inch of the way...

She watched as it stopped above a video game in the darkened arcade, then lowered itself to a spot near the joystick. The area was washed with a bright pink light, and the rhythm of a heartbeat echoed in the dark room. Once. Twice. Three times.

Silence.

Kaorinite smiled to herself, let out a small laugh. "Trap hooked and set. The boy should be coming soon."

The only thing to do now was wait.

* * *

The car had been left in the parking lot this afternoon, and she had told Michelle that she was going to take another way home. The younger girl had simply nodded her head, said she understood. Though she probably didn't, yet didn't want to waste Amara's time by asking for an explanation.

She figured tomorrow morning she would be on the track, so leaving the car was the best option. Saved gas, what with the high prices nowadays. But this wasn't what really spurred her decision.

Instead, it just so happened to be the man walking beside her.

They had been silent for a while, moving down the sidewalk at a reasonable pace. It wasn't one of those suffocating silences that threatened to kill even the strongest person alive. No. It had a different feeling to it. Something that whispered that words didn't matter, company did.

The only awkward thing about it was that it was Allen she was referring to. Someone she had met only yesterday, not including that night at the track. This type of comfort should have come at a later time than this. And even then, it would take even longer to get used to it being there.

Trusting others was never her forte. She left that to Sailor Moon and the others. The only person worth trusting was Michelle, Sailor Neptune. Because no on eels would fully be able to understand...

"I'm waiting," came the quiet sing-songy voice.

Amara looked up at him, narrowing her eyes at the amusement she found glistening deep in his emerald green orbs. "On what?"

"Aren't you going to apologize?"

"What for?" she asked, her suspicion rising more than just a little.

Allen grinned broadly at her, probably on the verge of laughter. "For this morning."

She raised an eyebrow at him, then shook her head. "Weird. I don't see anything I need to apologize for."

"Come on, Ten'ou, it's easy. 'I'm sorry, Allen, for being so ignorant and—' "

"I'm not ignorant, Toriyama! I was just pushing my point across."

"And you did a very good job of it, too. But it won't work. I still win this fight."

_I'm sure you will,_ she thought with a glare in his direction.

"There's no getting through to you, is there?"

The same question Michelle had asked her yesterday. It rankled her nerves more than a bit, annoyed her even more. Everyone was so convinced that her life was at stake. But so was her pride. Which meant more to her than life ever would.

And that was proven by the many times she's risked hers in the past because of the mission.

"Since you turned all quiet on me," Allen suddenly said, "I guess there _is_ no way." He shook his head with a sigh. "You're too stubborn, won't budge an inch..."

"I have to be," she found herself replying. "It's the only way I'll get anywhere."

"Try to bend a little. Others will help you out in the long run. If you just listen to them, that is."

"Oh, I'll listen. But don't expect me to do anything about it." She smiled to herself, stared straight ahead. "I plan to live every day of my life to the fullest, risks and all."

"You do that and kill yourself, and you'll have a million people mourning the loss."

"No. Not a million."

"True. But more than you bargained for." He shook his head again with another sigh. "You must have a lot of friends."

She scoffed, narrowed her eyes. "Hardly. Michelle's the closest friend I have, and she's family."

"The Great Ten'ou, no friends. That's not possible. You can't cast yourself off as a loner like that."

"Makes it easier to do what I need to do."

"Ending your life so Kyo won't take your spotlight."

Amara grasped him by the arm and turned Allen to face her. She stared angrily into his eyes, trying to not let his height intimidate her. "I'd rather end my life by sacrificing it for a just cause," she grounded out. "The crowd's great, but I'm not _trying_ to beat Kyo. It just happens!"

Something sparked in those emerald eyes of his, and his lips curved into a small smile. "And what's considered a just cause?"

Every muscle in her body became rigid. A hard question to answer without revealing her identity. Which reveals she is, indeed, a woman...

"Guess it doesn't matter, huh?" he asked.

She stepped back a few paces, glanced away. "No. I guess not."

"Even so...sacrificing? Sounds stupid. Only a moron would risk their life like that."

"Unless it's for something they believe in."

"What if that something-or-other ends up hurting other people? How would you feel then?"

Amara shrugged her shoulders, met his gaze again. "That doesn't matter. Better to hurt a handful of people than half the world. Or even all of it, for that matter."

Allen's smile faded at that moment, He turned around again and started to walk off.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" she yelled after him.

"I'm tired of dealing with your bullheadedness." He waved a hand in her direction, indifference in his posture and gesture. "Let's do something interesting. Like a video game or something."

All she could do was look at him for the longest while, that weird feeling running through her chest, just like it had this morning before homeroom. And yesterday, now that she remembered.

And the night before last.

She shook her head and ran after him, nudged him in the arm before settling back into a normal pace. "Do you know where you're going?"

"Passed by here yesterday and found a place. Crown Arcade. Seems like a great place to waste time."

She couldn't help but laugh, remembering Serena and Mina. "Definitely the place."

Allen looked over at her, another one of those odd glimmers in his eyes. The color had darkened ever so slightly, a deep fire burning within them. It made her uneasy, yet she tried not to show her new-found discomfort.

It suddenly became too much to handle, and she couldn't help but ask him the foremost question on her mind. "What's your problem?"

"Never heard you laugh like that before. It makes you seem...different."

She involuntarily rose one of her shoulders just a fraction, rose an eyebrow and looked at him curiously. "Different."

He only nodded his head, gave her a small smile and a quick wink.

Amara's heart stuttered, the heat of the day suddenly becoming warmer. She pulled off her uniform jacket, cast her gaze to the right and tried to ignore the man walking beside her.

No such luck. If anything, his scrutiny became stronger than before. She wanted to at least shove him out into the middle of the road, or even turn tail and go get her car. But she decided to see if things got better as the minutes flew by.

They never did.

"Focus on something else, why don't you?" she growled.

Allen laughed, nudged her in the arm as she had done not too long ago. "You're right. I shouldn't have been staring."

"Then why were you?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "That's not important."

"Say it."

"Only if you tell me your name."

"You know my name."

"Yeah, your _last_ name. Tell me your _first_ name."

"Why?"

"That's what friends do. They get to know each other."

Sure. But something told her he wanted more. More she couldn't give. No matter how hard she tried. Amara shook her head. "We're not friends," she said quietly.

Allen heaved out a heavy sigh and shook his head for the third time that afternoon. "I should have known."

"Known what?"

"Known that you'd be so stubborn that you would never entrust me with something so trivial yet so important as your name."

She had no choice; she had to keep everything a secret. One revelation would lead to another. And he couldn't ever know.

He could never find out she was a woman.

He could never find out she ran track.

And he could _never_ find out about Sailor Uranus.

Because that's what happens when you confide.

**A/N: (sigh) Okay. How many of you know where I'm going with this? Send me a PM if you know for a fact what's going on between these two. I'm curious about what's going on in your minds.**

**As I've mentioned probably twice before, this is a revisal. I had planned to finish this one before I typed it up, but a friend kept bugging me. So now, just so I won't have anything to worry about, I'm staying at least two chapters ahead of everybody and most likely making things up as I go along.**

**Right when I started working on this one, I had decided that I was going to attempt to make a sequel to this one. And it's going to have Kyo's sister. Who is going to be shown in a future post...**

**For those of you who are reviewing, I greatly appreciate your support. I probably wouldn't be continuing this without you!**

**-BDR**


	7. Chapter Six

**A/N: Introducing Andrew Foreman today. Along with Serena and Amy. Wooo...**

"**CHAPTER SIX"**

She smiled as she saw another one of her good friends standing behind the counter. "Andrew," she called.

Andrew Foreman looked up as Amara stepped forward, his blue eyes glistening in the light. "Hey, haven't seen you in a while. What've you been up to?"

"Nothing, really. Just been caught up with life..."

"Heard you earned yourself another win last week. Congratulations."

She merely shrugged her shoulders, glancing around the one-room arcade. Millions of images flashed onto the screens, encouraging the people walking through the door to test their luck at each and every game in the place. The many times she had tried herself ended with more than fair results.

Her eyes landed on the game she had played with Mina the day she met both her and Meatballhead. Her lips curved into a small smile at the memory. The red-bowed blonde had been surprised when Amara won in the game way before her. Which was the natural reaction for any normal person.

It seemed to Amara that she was a racing champion not only in actuality, but also in video games. This one fact usually sobered her, the reality of her destiny kicking in hard. To run like the wind...

Andrew nodded his head towards the person on her left. "Who's your friend."

Her eyes darted to the brunette standing beside her, the shock of seeing him glancing back at her causing her heart to stutter. She tried to mask her emotions the best she could, clearing her throat and informing Andrew with, "A new classmate of mine. Allen Toriyama."

The blonde man winced. "Yeah. I heard about how you two got acquainted."

Amara narrowed her eyes at Andrew, suddenly confused. He knew? "How...?"

"Michelle came by not too long ago, told me about the fight between this guy and Kyo."

Her shoulders slumped. "How long ago would that be?" Couldn't be not more than one minute, judging by the fact that she had to walk all the way over here to begin with...

Andrew's eyes brightened as he looked over a spot above Amara's shoulder, and she raised an eyebrow in question. "There she is now. Right outside."

Both she and Allen turned around to see the aqua-haired girl sitting outside, perched on the metal shoulder of the road. Her lips were curved into a sly smile that suggested that the cat had caught the canary. Amara didn't want to know what thoughts were going on in the younger cousin's head, but knew she had to find out or the curiosity would begin to eat at her soul.

Michelle waved her hand in a gesture Amara knew all too well. Private matters. About their mission, maybe. Maybe this time she had sensed the new target nearby, wanted to tell her to not let her guard down for a second.

She glanced at the man beside her. "I'll be right back," she told him.

Allen looked down at her with his emerald eyes. "Is something wrong?"

_Possibly._ "I don't know."

"Need me to come with—"

"That won't be necessary," she bit out, already walking towards the door. "Just...go ahead and have your fun."

What was it about her that made him think she needed his help all the time? She was stronger than that, been strong enough for more than three years now. It was about time they all realized this.

It was impossible to break her. Mainly because she didn't allow herself to be touched. Mentally, emotionally. Physically.

Kyo's a different story altogether.

She made it outside, wrapped her arms tighter around herself, clutching her jacket closer. Narrowed her eyes. "What?" she demanded.

"On a date, I see."

Amara growled at the younger girl. "It's not a date. He just decides to drag me in there and—"

"I sense something about him."

The way Michelle said this sparked something in her. She glanced back at the sliding glass door. "You mean..."

"I think he might be the next target." Michelle's eyes darkened, something akin to sorrow glistening in the dark blue depths. "Keep an eye on him."

She looked away, not wanting to glimpse the despair lurking in her younger cousin. "What's your problem? You're never like this when a target's involved."

"I don't think he's just a target, Amara." Michelle looked up, her eyes narrowed. "Maybe he could be something more than that."

She didn't have to say the words, but Amara heard the intention loud and clear. "I do _not_ need a boyfriend. My life's too hectic for that."

"You don't _need_ one. But you _want_ one."

"You're insane." Amara rolled her eyes at the analysis Michelle seemed to have made. Questioned it herself... She shook her head to clear the thoughts that sat like birds on a power line. "Stay close," she said quietly, not able to keep the slight heat from creeping onto her cheeks. She swore her eyes were moss green by now... "If you're right about him being a target, it'll take both of us to defeat the Heartsnatcher."

Michelle's shoulders slumped as she exhaled a breath. "Don't forget about the other Scouts."

"You're right. They have a tendency to show up about the same time we do."

Michelle nodded her head in agreement. But her eyes still held the dark hue as she placed a hand on Amara's arm. "Hey. Be careful not to get too close. We're not guaranteed some of the best things in life."

Amara growled at her again. "You should know I'm not looking for a relationship."

The aqua-haired girl gave her a genuine smile. "That's what they all say. Then they end up falling in love."

* * *

The sound of a sliding door suddenly grabbed his attention, and he turned around to see if it was Ten'ou. Instead, two girls about a year younger than he and his friend walked through. A blonde with a weird hairstyle—meatballs, it seemed like—and a blue-haired girl. Blue looked unsure about something, and Meatballhead was practically dragging her around the place.

Looking over their shoulders, Ten'ou and the cousin were looking in, eyebrows raised.

What was taking them so long?

"Come on, Ames," he heard Blondie say. "You can finally teach me how to beat Sailor V!"

The blue-haired girl hesitated. "I...must have forgotten," she said.

"You didn't forget. Luna's here telling me that you can't forget what's been gifted to you." She put her hands on the other girl's shoulders. "And Sailor V is definitely a gift." The hands turned Ames around, shoved her towards one of the blinking screens. "Okay! Show me what you're made of!"

The guy that Ten'ou had called Andrew stepped out from behind the counter, crossed his arms over his chest, his blue eyes narrowed. "Be easy now, Serena."

Serena groaned. "But, Andrew!" she whined. "Sailor V!"

"Which would you rather? Beating a game or keeping your friendship with Amy?"

The blonde looked unsure about what decision she wanted to make. Allen could see the moral scales weighing the choices in her head, pretty sure the video game would win. Kids. Always thinking of material things instead of what really matters.

He could only imagine what it'd be like when this one landed in high school. _If_ she landed in high school.

Serena's eyes landed on Allen, a question embedded in her blue eyes. Sadly, this curiosity didn't intrigue him like the fury and perhaps even fear he had seen in his mystery woman's eyes. Those same blue-green depths that haunted his dreams for the past two nights.

So he decided to let his disinterest show, an eyebrow raised, a hand in his pocket, and his head cocked to the side just a bit.

"Who are you?" the blonde asked him after a while.

Probably out seeking a relationship out of this... "Allen Toriyama," he replied lowly, trying to let her know how he felt about her.

And she probably didn't take the hint, because she grinned widely at him and said, "I'm Serena Tsukino!" She tugged her friend's arm and said, "And this is Amy Anderson."

The blue-haired girl waved shyly at him.

Thankfulness rushed through him. At least Amy didn't seem like she was going to push herself onto him like Serena most likely would. Allen was surprised that the two girls were friends. But that could be blamed on the phrase "opposites attract."

"Waiting for someone?" Serena asked.

They probably wouldn't know who Ten'ou was, so he merely shrugged his shoulders. "I came down here with a friend. But he had to leave because of...personal matters." And the way Ten'ou had waved him off proved it. Allen turned around. "I've never seen this place before, so I'm just scouting out the land."

Andrew's baritone voice sounded from behind him. "Scouting out the land! That's a good one!" he said with a laugh.

Allen shook his head with a silent sigh, walked towards the first machine that grabbed his attention. It was a black machine with two red buttons sand a small red ball on top of the joystick. He looked at the title (Soul Caliber II) that had two swords criss-crossing through it. Nothing he was particularly interested in, but he could give it a shot...

"Soul Caliber II," Andrew mused to himself, a smile evident in his voice. "Just came in today. Want to try it out, Allen?"

He narrowed his eyes, fished a quarter out of his pants pocket. "Sure," he murmured. "Why not?" He took another step forward, placed his hand on the control unit.

The screen flickered on, blinking slowly at first and then becoming faster with each second. Allen stepped back, figuring it was a system malfunction of sorts, but then the thing began to glow with a white light.

Shock flowed through his entire body. Many questions flashed throughout his mind. What was happening? Why was he the one to cause this? Who could save him?

Where was Ten'ou?

That thought, that one thought, filled him with dread. What if Ten'ou were to be harmed after stepping back into the arcade? There had to be some way to protect—

The game system shifted into a unique form. The black video game for the body with pale blue arms, legs, and a head protruding from the appropriate places. There was a feminine chuckle that sounded nearly electronic, and the mutated machine took a step towards him. The cables giving her power were ripped out of the walls, electricity piercing the air.

"Gam!" she shouted with a shriek.

**A/N: Okay, this is another one of my bad chapters. This is the part with the Heartsnatcher, of course, and it's going to last for about another two chapters before I go on to other things. Like the race.**

**I know I said I'd be two chapters ahead of everyone else, but somehow that changed into **_**six**_** chapters. I guess I got kind of restless, but at least I know when the race is going to be.**

**Which, unfortunately, is going to be just like my fight scenes. I abhor writing those because I can't seem to add enough detail in them...**

**Anyway, just bear with me! Another installment next week!**

**-BDR**


	8. Chapter Seven

**A/N: I'm going to give you guys a heads-up: I'm going to totally screw up on this chapter... Fight scenes are my weak point.**

"**CHAPTER SEVEN"**

Allen Toriyama turned around and began to head for the exit, passing the two younger, fearful girls as he did. "Run for your life! It's a monster!"

He took a left once he made it outside, going faster with every step he took. And the faster he went, the more worried he became for his friend. Where _was_ Ten'ou?

Through all the adrenaline-fueled steps, the fear-filled thoughts, he soon found out that he was now in a deserted park. Clear except for the threes and a bench here and there. No people. Nobody to save him.

And the monster, he realized as he looked over his shoulder. The thing was practically hovering above him, and he was shocked the system of a body didn't weigh her down.

"Come here, cutie!" the machine/woman shrieked, and she extended her arms toward him with a shout. Cable chords stretched out, and Allen struggled to move faster.

To no avail.

He fell to the ground, his chin scraping itself along the rocky surface of the grass-sparsed dirt. He looked behind him at his feet to see the chords wrapped halfway up his legs, holding him in place. Shock made his mouth dry, his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth. He was going to die now, and he never got to tell Ten'ou he—

"Stop right there!" a female voice shouted.

Allen looked around the park, and soon his eyes landed on an unfamiliar figure, one with bright blue eyes and long blonde hair in pigtails that reminded him of meatballs.

This odd chick had two red gems on the meatballs on top of her head. She wore a white leotard with a blue skirt, blue sailor collar, a red bow on her front and in the back. A heart-shaped broach with a small crescent moon sat in the middle of her chest. The knee-high red boots she wore had crescent moons near the tops of them. And on her forehead sat a golden V-shaped tiara with—guess what?—a crescent moon in the center.

"You think you can hurt an innocent man?" the newcomer asked. "Not while I'm here!"

"And who are you?" the electronic/woman asked with a snarl.

"I am Sailor Moon! Champion of Justice! And in the Name of the Moon, I shall punish you!"

Allen's eyes narrowed. This was his rescuer? This chick looked like she couldn't even walk and chew gum at the same time. Was it really possible for her to get him out of harm's way in one piece, or even three?

"You think you can stop me?" the demon asked.

"As a matter of fact, I can."

The villain chuckled. "I'd like to see you try."

The blonde girl—Sailor Moon—was about to sprint to his capturer. "Only one way to find out!" she exclaimed, taking a few steps forward.

"Don't' even waste your breath, Meatballhead," a familiar voice said from not too far away.

Sailor Moon tripped over her own two feet and fell to the ground with a cry.

And Allen's heart picked up as he looked up into the branches of a nearby tree.

* * *

Her eyes locked onto the target's gaze, and she felt a small shiver go down her back. "We need to get rid of this one quickly," she muttered to Sailor Neptune, trying her best to hide her emotions.

"Right. But it won't be easy with him in the way. We need to make sure he gets to safety."

Sailor Uranus narrowed her eyes and jumped down to stand beside Meatballhead, a small smile curving her lips. "One step ahead of you." She ran towards Allen and his capturer and prepared to tackle the thing...whatever it was. Anything to try and get him out of the Heartsnatcher's clutches.

The thing whipped out an arm, and cables shot out to wrap around Uranus's upper body, squeezing with so much force that it was impossible to breathe. A surge of electricity shot through her entire body, tingling her nerve endings and jarring her brain. She couldn't help but cry out from the pain it caused her...

A golden discus tore apart the cables, and she somehow kept herself form falling to the ground. Sailor Moon came up to her as she caught the discus, which turned back into her tiara and went back on her forehead. "We're a team, Sailor Uranus," she said. "It's not a good idea to do things on your own."

She covered an arm that held deep imprints, the pain still strong enough to make her wince. "I'm not on _your_ team, Miss Moon. Neptune and I work alone. So just stay out of it."

"But—"

"I said, stay out of it!" Her eyes went back to Allen, only to catch him still staring at her. Uranus growled at herself, glancing at the Heartsnatcher and getting into a defensive stance. _There's no time to think about him. Keep the mission in mind._ "Come on, witch! Come and get me!"

The Heartsnatcher cackled and ran full speed towards Uranus. "You're gonna wish you had never been born!"

_It doesn't matter. As long as Allen doesn't have to die._

The thought echoed through her head as she jumped out of the way. The target's well-being wasn't supposed to matter, but what the target's heart holds did. It didn't matter if death came over the victim if he or she had the talisman. It didn't matter...

Yet she couldn't help but worry. _Don't have the talisman, Allen,_ she silently prayed. _Don't have the talisman..._

She swiftly moved behind the Heartsnatcher, bashed her behind the head with a fist. But the thing bounced back again, an odd glint in her eye. One that hinted of malice. One that reminded her of Kyo.

Neptune stepped down beside her partner, looking at their enemy with a glare. "You're getting reckless, Uranus," she stated quietly. "Plan better."

"I don't care," Uranus bit out.

Neptune glanced at her, concern etched in her eyes. "This isn't like you. Normally, you're eager to see what a pure heart holds. Now you're not even going to see if he has one of the—"

"He doesn't have it. His heart's not pure enough."

"You don't know that for a fact."

"I won't give it a chance." Uranus didn't half the slightest idea of what was going on with her. This guy just had a way of making her think differently... She moved back until she stood in front of the target, cracking her knuckles. "You'll have to move me by force."

The Heartsnatcher ran towards her again. "Gladly!"

The blow was unexpected, hit more than what she had bargained for. The force knocked her over to the side, about three to five feet away from where she had been standing not long before.

"Sailor Uranus!" Sailor Moon and Neptune exclaimed.

Sailor Uranus sat up, rubbed the left side of her face. Looked down at her hand and sharply inhaled a breath. Deep red marred her glove, the line of it large enough to suggest a deep scratch. How was she going to explain...?

"Are you okay?" she heard her partner ask.

She looked up with narrowed eyes, a heavy ball sitting in the middle of her chest. "She's getting riled up now," she said, ignoring the question. "Destroy her so she won't..." Her eyes darted off to a space of trees to the right.

A few moments later, she heard Sailor Neptune sigh. "Sometimes I worry about you." She walked towards the ditz of a blonde who had gotten there before them. "I guess you and I will do the job."

Sailor Moon smiled and nodded her head. In her hand appeared a scepter. The Moon Scepter, she had heard people call it. The one that magically appeared when you least expected it. The long-haired Sailor Scout began twirling around in a freaky dance routine, twirling the odd wand as well. Then stopped for a while before saying, "MOON...SPIRAL...HEART...ATTACK!"

Sailor Neptune held her hands in front of her. "NEPTUNE...DEEP SUBMERGE!"

Both attacks hit the Heartsnatcher at once, the heart-shaped attack being the main one. Said heart shattered, and the thing screamed out, "Gam!" before turning back intoa video game system. An egg-like structure slipped out of the control area and broke in half, a ghost of a cloud rising out of it with a shriek.

All Uranus could do was stare in shock. _That easy?_ her troubled mind asked. _That's all it took...and I was powerless to save him..._

* * *

Kaorinite appeared in front of the man, doubt in her heart. "Yes, Dr. Tomoe," she said with false confidence.

"You failed this time," the doctor told her. "You didn't even _attempt_ to steal that boy's pure heart!"

"Those Sailor brats got in the way." Just like they did all those other times.

"All of them?"

"No. Just three. Sailor Moon, Uranus, and Neptune."

"You should have been able to destroy them with Gam. She was supposed to be invinsible!"

That's what he'd said the last time. And the time before that. And the time before _that._ Yet those pesky Sailor brats always meddled in their business. But not this time. Not once she goes through with her newly-formed plan.

"They're not going to mess with us this time around," she promised with a smirk.

"Oh? And how's that?"

"I just got a brilliant idea. One that will fully destroy all of the Sailor Soldiers before they're able to rescue the target. I'll make the last Heartsnatcher stronger than ever."

"But they've already defeated Gam."

"But the remains are still there."

She let the true meaning of her words sink into his crazed head, and then she finally heard him chuckle. Then the maniacal laughter that usually fills his laboratory. "Good, Kaorinite!" he exclaimed. "I knew I could depend on you!"

**A/N: Again, not my best chapters.**

**And it's now TRIVIA TIME!**

**Soul Caliber II is an actual arcade game (well, it was news to me...). Sadly, though, it is hidden in one of the far corners of our skating rink. I'm not sure what it was about, what design was really on the front of it, but I DO happen to know that it is a fighting game.**

**Two years ago, my sister had dislocated her knee and couldn't go skating for a while, but I had begged her to go (being the little sister that I am). So she had decided that she was going to take five dollar's worth of quarters and go play Soul Caliber II. And she was doing so GREAT...**

**Until that three-year-old (exaggeration, I bet) came along and whooped her.**

**Now, here I am two years later in the month of March (the month the original fic was made), asking her for the name of any arcade game in the world... And, with a hint of bitterness in her voice, this is the one she chose.**

**Well, now you know my reasoning for this! And I can only hope the rest of this fic turns out better than expected.**

**The youngest Musashi shows up in the next chapter!! And, for those of you who are waiting for it, the race shows up in Chapter Eleven.**

**Thanks!**

**-BDR**


	9. Chapter Eight

**A/N: Introducing Latoya Musashi**

"**CHAPTER EIGHT"**

Michelle shook her head at the sight. Her cousin must be taking it pretty hard. The victory over the Heartsnatcher, rescuing Allen...but her pride got in the way too much of the time. One of these days, it really would kill her. And Michelle couldn't let that happen, because Amara was all the family she had left.

Right as said young woman passed in front of the bleachers again, a lone figure caught the corner of her eye. She glanced in that direction to see a familiar young girl with bright purple hair and yellow eyes wearing a simple lavender dress. The sight of the girl made her smile, and she waved her over.

The weird feeling she had described to Amara that day at the speedway came over her. A small voice rang in her mind, saying there was something familiar about her other than her presence, and the odd sense of importance drifted over her again...but she waved it away. This was more important. "Hey, Latoya," she greeted with a heart-felt smile.

Latoya Musashi shyly nodded a greeting, looking at the dirt track Amara was running on. "Any luck?" the younger girl asked after a while.

Michelle shook her head. "No. I already told you it would be hard dissuading her from the race. That girl's got a one-track mind. Gets something in her head, and she sticks with it." Even if she fails.

Latoya sighed, wrapped her arms around her waist. "I don't want my brother to harm your cousin in any way, Michelle... You understand that, right?"

It still shocked her how these two siblings were polar opposites. Where Kyo's eyes suggested anger and harbored pain, Latoya's own yellow eyes shone with compassion and sometimes even fear. But Michelle nodded her head at the question the girl had asked, watching how Amara ran in front of them again.

"She's pretty fast," Latoya breathed in wonder.

"Didn't get that way overnight, you know."

The younger girl looked at her in shock. "What do you mean?"

Her mind went back in time to that day her older cousin had made a decision that she had chosen to keep for the reason of her life. _"I'm going to be like the wind,"_ she had said.

Michelle shook her head at the memory, laughing to herself. "She used to be at an average speed about three years ago. Running had always interested her when she was younger, and just by watching the track one day, she told me she wanted to be like them."

"And?"

"Been working on it for a long time. Now she's the greatest racer this team's got."

Latoya's eyes darkened with sorrow, the emotion palpable in the atmosphere. "Now my older brother's out to get her..."

Michelle looked at her for the longest while, noting the deep concern etched in her expression. _She really does want to look out for Amara, huh?_ She knew this kind of emotion was different than what most girls felt when they spotted her older cousin for the first time, thinking she was a guy instead of a girl. Instead, it was...friendly-like. Genuine.

"I wish there was something I could do to help," the younger girl finally said. "Maybe distract my brother when he tries to hurt her. Or even—"

Michelle put a hand on Latoya's shoulder to quiet her down. "Hey. Everything's going to be just fine. She'll work her way out of this bind. She always does."

* * *

She pushed herself even harder, trying to block the images from her mind. They had just suddenly lodged themselves in there first thing this morning, and she had tried everything in the world to get them out. To no avail.

Her last resort was to sweat it out, but even _that_ wasn't working. If anything, they came faster than ever before...

_Sailor Neptune was on her knees beside her in the next instant. "Are you okay?" she asked._

"_Yeah. Fine." She struggled to stand up, barely able to keep herself from falling over in the process. "As long as the pure heart wasn't taken..."_

_Neptune hesitated for a moment, then took Uranus by the arm. "Come on. You're injured."_

"_Let go!" she demanded, shaking off her partner. She very rarely—probably never—spoke to her like that, but then again, neither had she felt so helpless in her life..._

_Neptune didn't say anything, just did as the older woman asked. Uranus began walking the way they came, knowing for a fact that her partner was close behind._

"_Wait!" a familiar bass voice commanded._

_Uranus couldn't help but turn around in shock. The next thing she knew, both sides of her Sailor collar were grasped by strong, male hands, and she was roughly pulled forward. Green orbs bored into her own blue-green ones (probably changing from icy blue to a deep green), and she felt herself melting in his gaze. His nearness sent her thoughts in at least twenty directions, and she couldn't keep herself from flushing..._

"_I've seen you before," he said quietly. "I know I have."_

_Shock kept her from saying anything. It was downright impossible, him knowing who she was. If he actually _did...

"_Thank you," he continued to murmur. "You shouldn't have."_

"_I had no choice," Uranus forced out. She tried to twist herself out of his grasp, the burning flush spreading. There had to be a way to get away from him before she did something she might regret. "Could you just...let me go?"_

_Allen didn't move for a moment, his gaze traveling her face. It reminded her of that time at the track, and she mentally flinched. There had to be some way... All other thoughts disappeared as he slowly leaned forward to softly brush his lips against hers._

_Every muscle in her body stiffened. She couldn't bring herself to think, to feel. Though she desperately wanted to with every fiber of her being. But that kind of reaction was child-like. Needy. Something she couldn't ever be._

_Just as slowly as he came, Allen backed away, his hands traveling down her arms as they went. His eyes sparkled with an unidentified emotion, the color of his irises lighter than ever. Other than that, his face was void of expression._

_And so was hers._

_Just like it needed to be._

_Sailor Neptune cleared her throat, reminding Uranus of her presence. "I think we need to get going now," she said with a mischievous grin. She turned and began walking away. "Coming Uranus?"_

_Uranus blinked and looked at her partner. Grateful for a new focus, she said, "Sure. Let's go." She turned around as well and began to follow Neptune, not quite able to keep another blush from flooding her face again._

_Neptune giggled. "I think that boy likes you."_

"_I don't know what you're talking about."_

"_Oh, come on. Don't be that way."_

_She didn't say anything, just glanced in another direction. There wasn't any possibility of "that boy" liking her. Not when she didn't do anything to save him._

_Not when she only got in the way._

Amara stopped at the bench on the side of the track, gasping for breath after the long trip she had made around the dirt road. Her entire body was flushed form the exertion, yet her lips were the main thing bothering her. The memory of Allen's brief kiss had caused the tingly feeling to return to the point of contact.

She shouldn't be reacting like this. It was the type of thing for little junior high girls like Meatballhead and Friends to go through. She was in high school, expected to be mature and adult-like.

A hand on her shoulder jolted her from her thoughts, and she looked up into the smiling eyes of her younger cousin. "Are you okay? It doesn't hurt, does it?"

Amara didn't answer, only looked away again. She didn't know for a fact what Michelle meant. The indentions looped around her shoulders. The large scratch on the left side of her face.

The kiss that had dulled her mind and made her more confused than she should be.

The aqua-haired woman sat down beside her with a small sigh. "You can't beat yourself up for supposedly not doing something right."

What else _could_ she do? Amara shook her head and ran a hand through her sandy-blonde hair. "You don't get it, Michelle," she said quietly. "I should have been there for him. I should have destroyed the Heartsnatcher instead of sitting in the sidelines like a useless weight..."

"Seems like he's gotten to you."

She let out a forced laugh, still unable to meet her cousin's eyes. "He hasn't gotten to me. Not one bit. You're imagining things."

"No. I saw how you didn't want to leave him. And he didn't want to leave you, either."

"But, Michelle, he doesn't know who I am!"

The younger girl didn't say anything for the longest time. The seconds ticked by, turning into hours, and Amara still sat silently even though she felt the urge to scream. But the silence was well-rewarded, when Michelle shook her head and said, "Maybe you're right. Maybe Allen Toriyama only feels something towards Sailor Uranus, not Amara Ten'ou."

"And I'm proud of it..."

There was small exhale, then Michelle stood up and began to walk off. "Be sure to change the bandage when you get home."

Amara's hand involuntarily went to the bandaged wound on her left cheek. She remembered how one of the cables the Hearstnatcher had shot out had cut the skin there. The mere thought of the sharp point embedding itself deep in her flesh was enough to bring the pain back.

She stood up to go into the locker room not far way from where she was sitting. The idea of sitting in front of her piano calmed her nerves. And she realized it had been days since she had tickled the ivories, listening to a tune carefully put together or made up completely in her head.

Anything would be better than reasoning with reality.

Anything would be better than trying to decipher the meaning of Allen's faint kiss.

**A/N: Why did Allen say that she looked familiar? Hmm... Maybe some of you have actually figured this little answer out?**

**This is not the only time Latoya Musashi will be in the story. I believe she shows up about...three other times. And then there's the continuation of this story in another fanfic.**

**I think I'll have to bump up the rating to ****M**** by Chapter Fourteen. I'm a little "iffy" about this particular chapter for various reasons. **

**Well, another installment next Tuesday. Whoo... Can't wait...**

**-BDR**


	10. Chapter Nine

"**CHAPTER NINE"**

Amara Ten'ou poked her head out of the high school locker room, looked around the area before stepping outside completely. The coast was clear, no sign of Kyo Musashi anywhere. Which gave her another day out of his sights before tomorrow's race.

Oh, how joyous that thought was.

She gripped the dark blue duffel bag with both of her arms, making her way out of the metal gate and across the spacious lawn of Crossroads Senior High School. Her memory reminded her of the last time she had gone this way by herself, how it was very similar to the night she and her mystery man had met.

Only this time, she wasn't running from anybody. She was just on her way home from a nice round or twenty around the track. No harm to anyone at all, not even herself.

There was a high-pitched scraping noise a few feet away, it seemed. Amara stopped where she was, listened closely only to find that the ringing had disappeared again. She couldn't place it anywhere, even if she tried, and she was trying to figure it out so hard that it was giving her a headache now...

She looked over her shoulder right as she started walking again, measuring her steps the best she could. Right on cue, the ringing/scraping began again, the sound sending a shiver down her spine. Her heart beat faster as the possibilities flashed through her head. Could be a knife against a rock, that being the main idea that came. But who possessed it? And what for?

Right as Amara faced forward again, her foot caught itself on a root that was hidden from her view. Immediately, she felt herself falling. Falling. Falling...

Strong hands tightly gripped her shoulders as she, bag and all, crashed into a hard chest with a grunt. The sandy-haired girl looked up to see emerald eyes staring back at her, concern etched deep into them. "Hey, Ten'ou," he greeted.

She looked away, the memory of yesterday afternoon coming to mind. The fight, the helplessness. The kiss. Her lips started tingling again, and it took all of her strength not to ask him about it. Just one simple question could reveal too much.

"You look like you've been caught sneaking steroids into the locker room," he said with a small laugh. With a teasing tone, he asked, "That wasn't what you were doing, right?"

Her eyes shot back to her face, and she spotted the mile-wide grin curving his lips. His green eyes sparkled with both amusement and merriment. Amara couldn't help but glare at him and shove herself away from his body. "Of course it wasn't."

Instead of pressuring her like she thought he would, Allen merely shrugged his shoulders and left it at that.

Confusion flashed thorugh her mind. _He's actually...dropping the subject?_ This was definitely a first. A first to add to the list of other firsts. A list that she hoped no one except Michelle would know about.

"What are you doing out here," Allen asked after a long while.

Amara shook her head, walked past him with the duffel bag still in her hands. "Maybe out here trying to still my nerves. Maybe to help a friend of mine on track."

"Let me guess. Now you've been given the task of transporting this friend's clothes home. Or maybe to hold onto them for a while?" He had fallen into step with her.

"Perhaps."

The brunette snorted. "You're pretty secretive for someone I've known for two days now."

"All a part of my defensive personality, Toriyama."

"Yeah? Well, it freaks me out sometimes."

"Glad I've found a new accomplishment." She shook her head again. "Okay, I know your hidden intention is _not_ to follow me around all the time. Something's eating at you."

Amara saw the man beside her smile out of the corner of her eye. She became curious at this sudden expression, and she wondered what might come out of his mouth next. The one that spilled out thousands of wisecracks and seemed to laugh at everything she said or did. The one that made her mind spin with unanswered questions and made her want to reveal everything to him...

Not taking the silence any longer, she asked him, "Well?"

Allen let out a rumble of male laughter that made her nerves tingle. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

Amara's ire rose, and she didn't stop herself from piercing him with another glare. "Let it out. No need to be grinning like an idiot about it."

That smile of his faded a tiny bit, his green eyes still locked on hers. "I saw an amazing woman last night."

Her arms tightened around the dark blue bag of hers, and she forced a smile of her own though her pulse skittered a bit. "Oh." She swallowed and said, "Great. I bet the date went well?"

"I said nothing about it being a date."

"Oh," she repeated. Her eyes shot to the ground at her feet—now the sidewalk they had gone down yesterday—before going back to his gaze. "I figured—"

"I think you might know her. Dressed in dark blue and gold...like a sailor girl or something."

She wrinkled her nose. _Sailor girl?_ "You mean a Sailor Scout?" Though she personally preferred the term "Soldier". The name "Scout" made her feel like...one of _them_. The thought of it made her inwardly shudder. _That group of weaklings._

Allen nodded his head. "Yeah, thanks. She even had a gold tiara with a topaz-colored stone in the center. Goes by the name...Sailor Uranus."

Amara looked away again, narrowing her eyes. The way he said her name. Such reverence. Awe. Never had she heard such praise about her... But she got past the fact that it was Allen talking about _Uranus_ of all people, asking, "How'd you meet her?"

Allen shrugged his shoulders, the movement easy to detect even without watching. "I was being chased by a demon when she and two other Scouts came. But I remember her the most. Reckless, feisty, strong." He chuckled softly. "I gave her the kind of reward she deserved."

For not doing anything at all? For letting Sailor Moon and Sailor Neptune take over when she could have helped? "And what was that?" she asked, knowing full-well exactly what.

"A kiss. Of sorts."

"Why?" The word was out before she could stop herself from uttering it.

This confusing man beside her stared at her for a few minutes, then shrugged his shoulders again. "She looked like someone I've met before."

"Who?" Another automatic question. She flinched, felt a blush creep along her face. _Shut up, Amara!_

"I don't know for the life of me." His own answer was dragged out. He was either curious about her interrogation...or he was lying.

Amara bet her money on the latter.

Allen's eyes darted to the many buildings around them, the green depths sparkling even more than before. The sight caught her by surprise. All of this by talking about a mystery woman. Yet he never knew that the identity of said mystery woman—and the darkened shadow from that other night—was walking beside him.

"So..." she said slowly, "are you going to see her again?"

"I wish. She looked like she didn't want to leave my sight. I don't blame her." He crossed his arms behind his head, his grin wider than before (if that were even possible). "Nobody can get enough of Allen Toriyama."

There he goes again... "Somebody might decide to shoot you for that over-sized ego of yours. Better to watch your step."

"Where's your cousin? Michelle, right?"

The sudden change in conversation made her falter in her steps. Amara stopped and gave him another one of her piercing glares. She grounded out her answer so he'd know that his little trick wasn't appreciated. "Probably out to lunch like every other rational person at this given hour."

"And she left you at the high school?"

"Had to. There was no way I was going to follow her just to go to lunch."

He nodded his head slowly. "Practical."

Amara frowned at him. What was it with him? Infuriated her, yet she didn't want to go off and do her own thing. How he kept calling her a friend, even when friendships were something she avoided like the plague. There was a deep swirling feeling in her chest, a complex combination of different emotions, some indecipherable. Part of her wanted to tell him everything, part of her wanted to hide. Part of her wanted to hit him, part of her wanted to keep her distance.

Part of her wanted to see what it'd be like to actually kiss this man, not just a simple brush of the lips.

Michelle's words range through her mind again. _"...Maybe Allen Toriyama only feels something towards Sailor Uranus, not Amara Ten'ou."_

This caused a yearning deep within her soul. Yet she should feel nothing. Nothing at all...

"Hey." Allen's bass voice brought her back from her self-made abyss. "Are you okay, Ten'ou?"

Amara blinked, shook her head. Realized her mistake and nodded. "Sure." Her voice sounded hollow, empty. She cleared her throat right as the blush came again, and she turned her head away from his probing gaze.

"Hmm..." She could hear the concern that he was fond of showing when she didn't need him to. Soon he'll ask what's wrong and... "Pride?"

She snapped her head back around to look at him, a gasp escaping her lips. "Yes."

"I don't blame you. I'd be the same way in your shoes."

"Yet you were rescued by three Sailor Soldiers." One Scout, _two_ Soliders.

He nudged her lightly in the arm. "That couldn't be helped. I was running for my life!"

"True. True."

A long silence stretched between them, but it was the same comfortable silence that she usually finds with Michelle. It soothed her spirit a little, yet it was weird and still strange for her to feel this way around _Allen_...

"Ten'ou," he said all of a sudden. A brief hesitation before," Think we can get together for a while some time tomorrow?"

_You're kidding me. What brought this on?_ But her mind did a run-through of her calendar. What she found made her wince. "No. I can't. Tomorrow's Sunday, remember?"

He found, nudged her arm again. "Okay, then," the told her softly. "What time's the race?"

"Eight o'clock in the morning. But it lasts for three hours. I highly doubt you'll be able to sit through an ordeal like that."

"You never know. I might be able to live that long." He grinned. "Just give me the benefit of the doubt." Then he shrugged his shoulder, said, "I'll come down to congratulate you when you win."

Amara shook her head with a frown. "You don't need to do that."

"Sure, I do. Just to make sure Kyo doesn't lay a hand on you." Allen looked at her for a few moments before saying, "Trust me."

"It's not that easy," she replied quietly.

"Trusting others is never easy. That's why people get out there and do it anyway." He exhaled a big sigh before looking in front of him again. "Come on, Ten'ou. Let's go find something to eat."

All she could do was follow him. Arguing wouldn't help matters. He'll just fight back, giving everything he's got.

Right now, she just didn't have the strength to deal with his so-called logic. So she left it at that...

**A/N: Two more weeks of waiting. Hope you can stand that long!**

**-BDR**


	11. Chapter Ten

**A/N: Introducing Lita Kino, Mina Aino, Raye Hino, and Rini Tsukino.**

"**CHAPTER TEN"**

The blonde turned back to her friends at the round table, cupped the sides of her mouth. "Hey," she whispered. "Could Amara be on a date?"

"What?!" the others exclaimed.

Mina shushed them, waving her hands in a signal for them to tone it down some. "She's over there!" she hissed, now pointing in the tomboy's direction.

Serena looked where her friend was pointing, thinking that Mina Aino was imagining things. But, sure enough, there Amara was, walking beside... She gasped, pointing at the couple. "That's the same guy from the arcade!" she squealed.

Amy Anderson looked as well, her blue eyes widening. "You're right..."

Lita Kino crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back in her chair. "Well, look at that. Amara with a man. Who would have thought?"

"And Allen Toriyama, no less," said a familiar contralto voice.

They call glanced over to see Michelle Kai'ou at the round table next to them, her arms folded over her chest and one knee crossing the other. One eye was closed, the other blue sapphire looking at them from the side. A picture of sophistication. Serena couldn't help but be envious. How could someone be so cool like that? Maybe that's what _she'd _be like in high school, everyone worshipping the ground she walked on.

"That's his name?" Mina asked. "Allen Toriyama?"

Serena, Amy, and Michelle nodded their heads. And Serena remembered the guy introducing himself. His ease seemed as natural as Amara's and Michelle's, but at least the women were nice about it. Allen's posture screamed aloofness, so it was hard to see why Amara would want to date him.

It was impossible to believe that she'd accept a date from _any_ guy, for that matter!

Michelle let out a small laugh. "Besides, I wouldn't call this a date. It's too soon for something like that."

Raye Hino tilted her head to the side, her violet eyes sparkling with a question. "What makes you say that?"

Michelle opened her other eye. "He moved here, transferred to our school only a few days ago. Our dear Amara is probably just showing him around town."

Serena felt Amy touch her on the shoulder, and she glanced at her blue-haired friend. "What's up, Ames?" she asked.

"Allen," Amy whispered. "Isn't he the same guy who had his pure heart taken?"

She nodded her head. Amy hadn't been at the fight, mainly to comfort Andrew, who had probably witnessed his first Heartsnatcher. So basically everyone had relied solely on a ditz to save them all. Just like the good ole days...

Until Uranus and Neptune decided to show up.

Rini's voice brought her back to reality. "Does Amara like this guy?"

The aqua-haired woman seemed to study them for a few moments, her blue eyes narrowed now. She then shrugged in a nonchalant gesture. "It's hard to say. Amara claims there's nothing going on between them...but she's been acting peculiar lately."

"How?" the younger girls chorused.

She shrugged again. "Being more secretive. She won't tell me what she's thinking anymore, even when it's obvious she's bothered by something." Her eyes darkened, her expression sorrowful. "She needs to open up her eyes. Because all she's _been_ doing is trying to block the things she needs to be fighting for and fighting the things she needs to defend."

Serena tilted her head to the side, trying to analyze the meaning of her words. But it confused her, like most of the things these older women say... So it was time to ask yet another question, one that was more important. "Has he tried kissing her?"

Michelle jumped, as if electrocuted on the spot. Her whole attention swiveled to them, apparently remembering that they were still there. Finally, she said, "He can't."

All six heads were now cocked to the right, a big "what?" etched onto each face.

The older girl stood up with a smile, a quick wink in their direction. "He thinks she's a guy," she said before walking off.

Serena felt her face heat up, glanced at Mina to see that she had gone scarlet. Apparently, neither had forgotten the day they had met Amara Ten'ou and Michelle Kai'ou. The day they had intentionally skipped Study Buddies just to go spying. And the next day, how they had all humiliated themselves (all except Rini, who was still in the future) in front of the two cousins...

Raye crossed her arms with a "humph," leaning back in her chair. "I think she's hiding something," the raven-haired priestess stated slowly.

Mina looked at their friend, narrowed her eyes. "Hiding something? She's always been straight-forward with us. How'd you get _that_ conclusion?"

"Didn't you see her reaction when Serena asked her if Amara's been kissed?"

Lita, Amy, Mina, and Rini all stared at her blankly. Serena understood perfectly. She didn't tell them _everything_ that had happened that day, only kept the secret between Allen and Sailor Uranus a secret between the three of them, including Neptune. If she could hide this from her friends, maybe they could finally win Uranus and Neptune on _their_ side.

At least, that was the logic she had in mind.

"Allen wasn't around much yesterday," Raye continued, "except for the Heartsnatcher attack, which Serena witnessed. All that talk about fighting and defending? Amara and Michelle never showed up to save Allen. Instead, it was Uranus and Neptune. Wasn't it, Serena?"

Serena went numb. What could her friend be saying?

"My theory is that Amara and Michelle are really Uranus and Neptune!"

And she was the first to protest. "Raye, you might be wrong!"

The young priestess flashed her violet eyes on her. "What?"

Now that she had said something, Serena guessed it was now time to back up her beliefs... "Well...you don't know this for a fact. There's an off-chance that Amara and Michelle just might be ordinary people, Raye. For all we know, Uranus and Neptune could really be...Molly and Melvin." The blonde swallowed and went on. "After all, don't they say that people are innocent until proven guilty?"

Amy lifted a finger, suddenly in school-teacher mode. "Actually, that only counts in the court of law."

"It doesn't matter what it counts for or where...or whatever! My point is: we can't go across Japan just assuming we know who they are."

Sad thing was, Serena had felt the urge to believe what Raye was mentioning just now. SO many things reminded her of their new friends... Yet it didn't seem fair to point out something that might be wrong.

Lita nodded her head. "Serena just might be right about something, you guys."

Rini laughed. "Yeah! I guess where Serena might fail in school, she aces in character!"

Originally, Serena would have pounded the little brat for that snide remark! But she just sighed to herself. It was hard convincing people...

"Still," she heard Raye say, "I sense danger when it comes to Allen and Amara." The priestess looked up in the sky. "I don't know who it's going to affect more, though..."

* * *

He watched the little junior high girls a few tables away. They seemed to know the brat pretty well; these six girls had been in the bleachers at the track this morning, watching their little friend go round and round in circles...

The big motorcross race was tomorrow. And he was ready for it, in more ways than one. He had sharpened the knife again, this time until the mere ghost of a touch could cause a human to bleed. Perfect for his intentions.

The boyfriend had better not get in the way this time. It would be quite a shame to have more of a mess than he wished. The head of the championship might kick him off the team, which was definitely not what he wanted.

Then again...maybe the brat would cooperate if harm came to the boyfriend. Pain had a weird way of doing that.

He knew.

The memory of his own suffering came to mind. The memory of the "old him" who was nice and caring and loving. Always doing what was best for Latoya.

But that side of him was long gone now. Had been for the past ten years.

And he was glad for it. Who wants to be weak like his little sister, anyway? The twerp with a conscience as big as Mt. Rushmore in America. Worrying about something as small as a cat. Or friendship.

Or the brat.

He sneered. The brat. Everyone wanted to be just like her. They loved her for her fame and fortune, the very reasons he despised her. They ought to know that before she came along, _he_ was the victor.

Only one of the reasons why he wanted to kill her.

The other?

Because he could.

Smiling to himself, he stood up. Walked away from the outside of the café, away from those little girls. The thrill of anticipated bloodshed rang through his body, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud once he was out of earshot. The brat didn't know what was coming... Didn't know that she'll be soon going through the same things he had in his childhood, only this reenactment turning into disaster on her part...

Life was happiness, indeed.

* * *

She watched from the shadows as the man walked away, and she wondered what was going through his mind. Couldn't be good, judging by the crazed smile on his face. Definitely couldn't be good.

She had yet to drag information out of Latoya. What had made Kyo Musashi like this? What was their family life like?

What made them as different as night and day?

Michelle pondered these things, slinking deeper into the alleyway as Kyo came closer. It would take a long time for the answers to see the light of day. Their sudden friendship had started only a few days ago, if she remembered correctly, sot here was no way Latoya would want to hand them over now.

Judging by the man's history at school (from what she's seen), the time until the race, and Kyo's obvious hatred for Amara, Michelle guessed that there was more danger to be expected tomorrow than any other Sunday. A fact that she needed to point out to her cousin _immediately_.

But there was no real way to do this. Contacting her on the communicator would raise questions that needed no answers. Dragging her away from Allen would make the older girl irate and the boy disappointed, being that Amara seems to be his only friend.

Waiting until the girl got home didn't seem to be wise, either. There's no telling how late it would be...

Michelle sighed. "I _told_ her to change the bandage anyway. Hate to sound like a nagging mother, but she needs to get home and _stay_ home..." She shook her head. "She'll never listen to me," she muttered.

**A/N: Looks like the big chapter's coming next week! Whee!**

**What exactly has Kyo been through in his life? What made him so heartless, unlike his little sister?**

**A reminder, I haven't seen the series in a very long time. I got most of my information from screencaps and episode summaries from a website called Castle in the Sky. I bet I've read through every single one of them about five times. But I suppose nothing's like the real thing, eh?**

**Anyway, thanks for reading, and thanks for the reviews that you guys have been sending!**

**-BDR**


	12. Chapter Eleven

**A/N: The race you have all been waiting for...**

"**CHAPTER ELEVEN"**

All twenty motorcycles zipped across the starting line again. Her own passed by yet another racer in the process, probably earning a glare or a muttered curse. The cheers flooded the stands of the speedway, but she couldn't focus on them for long. Concentration was key in this race, like all the other races she had participated in.

The contralto voice flowed from the earpiece. "You're doing great!"

Amara didn't answer the comment. Instead, she asked something of her own. "Any sign of him?"

A pause. "Allen?"

"Who else?"

Another pause, this one longer than the last. He better not be around. If he was, she was personally going to—"Yeah, he's here," came the sighed response. "But he's a little ways away."

Amara gritted her teeth. "Keep him there. Don't' let him near the girls." She passed a powder-blue bike, then a lime-green one...

"So... I guess he didn't kiss you yesterday?" came Michelle's slow question.

Amara gasped, lost control of her bike and swerved into the racer she was trying to get by. He answered with a shove of his own, and she thought she saw the glare from underneath his sun visor. _Focus, Ten'ou!_ she thought. _There's no room for careless mistakes!_

"Ooh! And Ten'ou tries the old-fashioned hit-and-run tactic!" the commenter announced. "This spices things up a bit! How will the others react?"

For starters, she was the first to do the reacting. "Don't even mention that ever again!"

"You're right. Sorry. Just playing the part of a nosy friend."

She growled at her cousin. "And you're doing a wonderful job with that, Michelle."

The laugh she got in return grated on her nerves. Usually, it was nice for Michelle to know her secrets and what made her uncomfortable. But now...especially something as trivial as _that_...

Why did it bother her, then? How come she couldn't stop thinking about it for a second?

"You're slowing down. Everyone will know something's up."

Amara looked down at the speedometer, noticed that she was, indeed, going slower than usual. She revved the accelerator even more as she heaved out a sigh. If Michelle hadn't sparked the memory of that kiss, maybe she wouldn't have slowed down. But another part of her guessed not. Guessed it wasn't her cousin's fault. Instead... _It's all because of him!_

"Hey," came the quiet words, "I found something for you yesterday. Just your size."

Amara inwardly groaned right as her eyes contacted Kyo's bike up ahead. "Michelle, you shouldn't have," she replied.

"I think you'll like it."

"No, I'm serious. You shouldn't have."

No answer. Which was just as well, she figured, passing the starting line again. Speeding up even more, she fought to catch up to the main who most likely hated her guts.

"Final lap, folks!" the voice shouted over the loudspeaker. "Will Ten'ou go for the seventh consecutive win for the season? Or will Musashi take the trophy this week?"

Screams surrounded all the racers again. Amara only focused on Kyo, noticed that he was going faster now. "Oh, no you don't!" she exclaimed. Revving her bike up again,s he kept the black Harley in sight.

"They're neck-and-neck, folks! What are the opposing racers going to do now?"

Kyo nudged her with his bike, causing her to swerve over to the side a bit. She soon regained her balance and struggled to pass him. "Who's in the lead?" she asked her cousin.

"You are," Michelle huffed out, "but only by a little. Think you can get him to slow down without getting penalized?"

"Kind of hard to do." Turn Three. "I'll figure something out..."

"Make it quick."

Of course. "Quick" was practically her middle name.

Her mind raced in time to get an answer. She had shoved into some guy on accident, and she wasn't called off the track. Kyo had done the same thing, yet he was still here, too. So maybe...

She pushed even harder, go to where she was halfway in front of him. Turned to attempted to run him against the wall, but straightened at the last minute. The desired result was given, she noticed, as Kyo slinked back.

"Isn't that cheating?" Michelle asked.

"If this were cheating, everyone else would be out already," she replied, gunning the engine and finally going over the finish line.

"And the winner is Number 09!" the commenter shouted. More than half the crowd went wild with excitement.

"Amara, are you okay?" she heard her younger cousin ask.

Amara didn't answer. Instead, she merely frowned as she headed for the garage.

* * *

She had changed into something more comfortable, blue jeans and a black shirt, when she finally decided to go face the inevitable. Kyo was most likely waiting like he always was, and she'd be a coward to sneak out the back.

The blow hit her in the side of the had as she walked out of the locker room, forcing her to crash into the wall. "You think you're the greatest, don't you?" Kyo Musashi snarled, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt. "Just because you're a woman, just because you've won every race since you started."

"I don't think I'm—" Another blow to the face cut her off.

"What? You _know_?" His entire body pinned her against the brick wall, and soon she felt cold steel against the side of her neck. He leaned forward until his mouth brushed against her ear, sending a shiver of fear down her spine. "Don't try anything you'll regret, my dear," he whispered. "I'll make you wish you had never been born."

Her blood ran cold in her veins, almost as cold as the blade pressing harder against her flesh. It was hard to breathe past the ball of fear lodged in her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut as she braced herself, the slow flash of pain most likely coming soon.

"You're afraid, aren't you, Ten'ou?" Kyo grounded out.

Her eyes flew open. Of course. He _should_ be able to know what she was feeling because of the many times she found herself in this predicament. Whether or not she showed her emotions on her face. It was always by physical reactions like tension. Shortness of breath.

Her eyes.

"That's right," he dragged out. "Fear me. Fear men, and I promise this will be nice and slow..."

"Wanna bet?"

Kyo was yanked off of her, the knife sliding against her throat. Amara yelped at the stinging pain, placed a hand up against the bleeding wound. All emotion drained from her like the blood running across her fingers, leaving her body limp against the wall. She barely noticed her rescuer, the man standing in front of her.

"What gives you the right?" the bass voice asked slowly.

Kyo growled. "That little upstart has been causing us trouble ever since—"

"That little upstart," Allen interrupted coldly, "is my friend. Ten'ou won this race fair and square. So stop whining about it and move on!"

The blonde offender smirked. "If only you knew what was different about this one. The things this brat is hiding from you."

"I don't care. Nothing you could tell me would faze me in the slightest."

Amara's eyes widened, her hand tightening around the side of her neck. _You're wrong. Your friend Ten'ou is your dream girl Sailor Uranus. You can't tell me that wouldn't shock you..._

It would sure surprise everyone else.

Kyo brandished his weapon like a sword, the blade still red from where he had cut her (accident or no). His face in a snarl, he ran towards Allen. Prepared to stab him. "This is what you get for siding with that brat!"

Allen waited until the last moment to move, all the while pushing Amara behind him. The action stirred her heart only a little, pushing her barriers down and actually letting her consider to let him in...to trust him...

He suddenly lunged forward to tackle Kyo to the ground. Fists and blade began flying, but her assailant seemed to be taking most of the blows. A cut here and there marred Allen's skin and his clothes, but he still went on...

One of the other racers soon came to pry the two men off of each other. Instead of going after the other guy (like most men would have done), Allen stood there and gasped for breath, cradling his wounded left arm. He suddenly shook his head and spun around to face Amara, his eyes dark with more than just hatred burning in them. "Come on," he grounded out. "We're through here."

She watched him walk off, hesitated before quickly catching up with him. This was the second time. The second time he took on Kyo without her asking him to. A sign of weakness, yes. But it also made her feel special. Like someone actually cared.

No.

He was just a friend.

Not _even_ a friend. An acquaintance.

Amara shook her head in disbelief. "Why did you save me? Again."

Allen paused for a few seconds, probably trying to measure his words. "Well, you couldn't expect me to let him kill you," he finally replied; his voice had lost the sinister tone, yet it was still raspy.

She hesitated. "You could have just stood there and watched."

"But I didn't. So stop whining and move on." He shrugged his shoulders with a sigh. "Besides, I told you I'd do it."

The first real emotion she ever felt since this whole ordeal, something strangely familiar, sparked through her. Anger, she hoped, though it was the weirdest anger she had ever felt in her life. She stopped in her tracks, placed a hand on his arm to still him. "You're hiding something from me. I just want—no, _need_—answers."

Allen growled, turned around, grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her closer. Her hand dropped from her neck, hanged loosely at her side. "Listen," he bit out. "There are some things that _can't_ be answered, just like what you said that day. I can't tell you why I do half the things I do, but I _will_ tell you one thing. My mind keeps screaming for me not to, yet I do it anyway!"

"Then stop," she said quietly. "If it bothers you that much, then just...stop."

His eyes lost most of the fire in them, yet they still flamed a small bit. "It's not that easy," he told her. "You just don't get it, do you?"

Apparently not. She new there was a meaning to his words, yet why wouldn't he just tell her straight up? This was getting confusing, depressing, infuriating...interesting. There had to be a way to drag it out of him. "Friends don't keep secrets," she whispered.

The corner of his mouth tipped up. "You're one to talk." He laughed and slowly released her. "You and your stubbornness..."

There was a small chirping in her pocket, and Amara silently groaned. Michelle. Probably to tell her to hurry up and get over to where she was now.

Allen's eyes flashed with amusement. "I think I'll let you get that," he told her, spinning on his heel and walking off again. He stuck his bleeding hands in his pockets, softly whistling a tune she couldn't place.

Amara waited until he and pretty much everyone else was out of earshot before pulling out her communicator and opening it. "What?" she asked.

Michelle laughed. "Get your little play-date over with," she replied, "and we'll head home. The girls and I have a surprise for you."

**A/N: Just to let you know, the girls are Serena and Friends. Allen wasn't supposed to go anywhere around them because Amara knew her name would slip and he'd know her "secret".**

**Sorry that wasn't long enough. I had to fit as much as possible into three sheets of college-ruled paper.**

**Okay, I'm gonna have to postpone Chapter 12 to week after next. Plans have me going on a trip next week, so I won't be home on that Tuesday. So, in a way, I'm holding it hostage. You won't be hearing from me until July 8****th****. Hope ya happy!**

**Can't wait to hear from you guys!**

**-BDR**


	13. Chapter Twelve

**A/N: The dress idea for this chapter is not my own. **

**It was a picture that I had found about two or three years ago, I fell in love with it (so to speak) and used it for various fanfics that never made it to this website. But...here it is now. I hope you enjoy.**

"**CHAPTER TWELVE"**

"No!" she exclaimed, waving her hands in front of her face. "No, no, no!"

"Come on!" The blonde ditz held up the dress and grinned. "I think someone will look _fabulous!_" she sang.

"Serena's right," Michelle told her. "I think you'll look gorgeous. Men will fall for you at a glance."

Amara blushed, which was most likely a first for the other six girls in the room. "I think it's a bit too much."

"Why?" came the chorus of female voices.

"Because," she said slowly, "it's strapless."

Serena looked at the dress closely. It was a simple strapless red-orange dress with small black and white flowers decorating the fabric. On the sandy-haired girl, it would be about knee-length. Not the best choice, in Amara's opinion. But then, _no_ dress would be her choice.

"It's perfect," gushed the younger girl.

"It's hideous!" Amara protested.

"Why don't you want to wear it?" asked Mina.

All she could do was shudder in reply.

"Come on, Amara!" Rini said. "Don't you want to be pretty? Maybe that guy you like will finally kiss you!"

The junior high girls gasped and stared at the bold ten-year-old. Amara's blush deepened. "Guy?" she looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you do," the pipsqueak continued. "He's the only you were with—" Amy, Mina, and Raye clasped their hands over her mouth, and she struggled to edge something word-wise through their palms.

Lita laughed sheepishly. "There's nothing to be ashamed of. Falling in love happens to everyone. Kissing is natural."

As if on cue, the memory of Allen's kiss came back as vivid as ever. How he had brushed his lips against hers... She swore her face turned a deeper red.

The other girls' eyes widened. "Did he already kiss you?" Serena asked.

She shook her head frantically. "No! Of course not! Why would he?" Which was partially true. Sailor Uranus was the other half of her, a half he could never know about. This bit of information should have cooled her down. Instead, it made her miserable.

"You think maybe _Allen_ has fallen for _you_?" Raye asked.

Amara shook her head, calmer this time. "He doesn't know I'm a woman."

"That doesn't matter," the raven-haired girl replied with a shrug. "He might be gay. Ever thought of that?"

A new possibility to consider... But her gut told her that wasn't the case. For some reason. And she always went with her gut instinct.

"There's a chance he isn't," Michelle said with a small smile.

"Great!" Amara exclaimed with a fake grin. "Case closed. If he's not gay, he can't truly have feelings for me since he thinks I'm a man."

Michelle shook her head with a sigh. "You're being ridiculous."

"No, Michelle, _you're_ being ridiculous. All _seven_ of you are being ridiculous!"

Her younger cousin grabbed the dress out of Serena's hands and threw it on top of Amara's head. "Just put on the dress!"

COPHCOPHCOPH

"Why must she be so difficult?" she asked the others, sitting cross-legged in a chair against the wall. "You'd think she'd be grateful that I'd be picking her something instead of dragging her around Tokyo, shop to shop. But then she gets all...aahh!" She accented the comment with a wave of her hands.

"Why did you want her to do this, anyway?" Raye asked.

"Amara needs to relax and live a little. Experience what it's like to be a woman. I'm not asking her to change every bit of her. It's just...I can see she's tearing herself apart inside." She paused before adding, "Even after she met Allen."

Mina leaned forward, clearly interested in something. It took her a while before she asked, "How _did_ they meet, anyway?"

"The information I gathered by talking to him alone tells me that he had grated on her nerves by throwing a softball at her—intentionally, from what I heard—and that got them on each other's bad sides. Then he stood up for her in front of Kyo, and he's been following her around ever since."

"Has he asked her out yet?" Rini asked.

Michelle shook her head. "Like I said yesterday, he can't."

"Then why were they together yesterday?"

"What I got form Amara, he was just walking her home." In fact, that's all she _would_ say about it. Michelle had hoped that maybe her cousin would start to open up again, but to no avail. Where most girls would chatter to no end, Amara remained silent. It suggested individuality, but in a scary sense.

A nearby door opened, and there were a few padded footsteps before they heard a muttered, "I can't believe I'm doing this."

All heads turned towards the living room doorframe to see Amara in the red-orange floral-print dress, arms crossed over her chest. Everyone of her curves were accented, and Michelle couldn't help but realize that her plan just might work.

But then her eyes narrowed. "Amara."

"What?" came the monotone response of a miserable woman. The girl's irises remained blue-green, but there was more green than usual...

"Put your arms down."

She did what Michelle said with a sigh. "Fine."

Serena's grin spread from ear to ear. "Well? What do you think?"

Wrong question.

Amara turned around and headed back towards the room she had just exited from. "I hate it!" she called over her shoulder. "I'm changing back and burning it!"

Michelle's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "What do you hate about it?"

"What _don't_ I hate about it? That's the better question!" The door slammed shut.

She looked over at the crestfallen Serena Tsukino, who looked like she might start crying soon. "She likes it," she told the younger girl, "don't worry." Then she looked at the closed door and did something she hardly ever did. "Get out of there! Now!" she shouted.

Amara whipped open the door and stomped back into the living room, arms crossed once more. "What?" she demanded.

Michelle smiled again, folded her hands in her lap and asked, "What don't you like about it? The color? The fabric, maybe?"

Her older cousin continued to glare at her. "It's a dress," she bit out after a while. "A very weird one. It makes me feel naked and exposed. You expect me to walk into the room looking like this?"

Michelle just continued to smile at her, possibly the other woman out. Not that it mattered. "Become a mysterious female for the night instead of acting like a man. No one will know it's you."

"Then what's the point in going?"

Her eyes narrowed. "For personal enjoyment." Especially if her plan went through. "Just...fix yourself up. The sooner you do, the sooner you'll get it over with."

Besides, this was the night to test her suspicions...

But neither knew of what Michelle had in mind. And it was going to stay that way.

Knowing Amara and her pride, she would be acting like she didn't know anyone, no matter how long they _had_ known each other in actuality.

"Michelle," said woman countered, "in some cases, you're right. The sooner you do it, the sooner you get it over with. But not this time. I believe that if I just drag this out, it'll become too late to go anywhere, and I'll be content in my own room instead of a...whatever room we're going to be in."

And then she'd probably find herself up in the middle of the night, running laps again. Which would have Allen asking questions that Amara probably wouldn't' want to answer. Questions about exhaustion.

Serena still grinned from where she was. "There's a chance that you might have fun, though. Even if you're just...standing around and watching."

"Thanks for making me feel better, Meatballhead," Amara muttered sarcastically to the girl with the hair buns. She sighed, glanced up at the ceiling. "Fine. I'll go."

The younger girls cheered and gave each other high-fives. Michelle just smiled to herself.

"But!"

They abruptly stopped their celebrating and looked back at her.

"If I find myself getting miserable, I'm coming back here and I'm giving all seven of you hell. I'm giving my reaction time a total of three hours. You can say goodbye to your friends and family during that time." She turned and walked into yet another room. A jingling sound emitted from where Amara was. The kitchen.

Michelle stood up, recognizing the sound as her cousin's car keys. "Glad you see things my way," she muttered. "I just can't see how Allen can handle your stubbornness, though."

"I heard that," Amara said as she walked back into the living room. A cross pendent was now hanging around her neck, probably taken out of one of the drawers holding what the older girl called "useless knick-knacks."

The six younger girls grouped around them at the front door. "Have fun!" they chorused.

"We'll just be hanging around here," Serena added. "Studying."

Both Amara and Michelle rose an eyebrow. "Studying?" they asked incredulously.

The ditz flushed scarlet.

Amara sighed and shook her head. "I'll be in the car. Take care of the other things here and meet me there." She walked out the door.

Michelle crossed her arms over the yellow sundress she wore, her blue eyes narrowed. "Be surprised she didn't ask what you girls were up to. She's not stupid."

Amy, Raye, and Mina nodded their heads. Lita just glanced over at Serena and Rini, who had their heads lowered in a self-reprimanding manner.

The aqua-haired woman heaved out a sigh and looked over these young girls one more time. "I'll send a friend of mine later to pick you up. He'll honk twice to let you know it's him. Turn off all the lights, lock the front door behind you. And I need you to be on your best behavior for this to go according to plan. So don't do anything stupid." She opened the front door again, finished her speech by saying, "Or I'll give you _more_ than hell."

She heard their gulps right as she softly shut the front door.

**A/N: Sounds like Michelle has a plan up her sleeve, and she put Serena and Friends in the middle of it. I wonder what it is...**

**Actually, I DO know what it is. I just said that to add suspense.**

**Well, another chapter will be posted next Tuesday. Sorry I had to up and leave you guys without one last week. And to tell you the truth, I didn't think anything of it... Mainly because I was outside in the blazing hot sun and stayed awake until I was **_**beyond**_** delirious. But I'm glad I'm back. I can attempt to settle back into my daily routine.**

**Hope you liked the chapter!**

**-BDR**

**Also, I tried putting the website for the dress picture, but it only put half the link on here. So if anybody needs proof, send me a PM. Thanks!**


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**A/N: What's bound to happen now?**

"**CHAPTER THIRTEEN"**

"Is he _here_ yet?" the youngest one whined.

Serena had placed the little squirt on her shoulders so that she could have a bird's eye view of the place. If Rini hadn't been able to spot him yet, then apparently the answer was "no."

Time was ticking slowly yet surely. Only fifteen minutes had passed. Fifteen out of the three hours Amara had given them. Any longer, and Serena just might start bawling. Torture was the last thing she needed while in the middle of studying—or _pretending_ to study—for the high school entrance exams that Ames was so fond of reminding her of. Surely Amara would understand...

Everyone had been positioned at different areas. Two girls for each corner of the room. The Scouts had decided to contact each other using their communicators. They were to contact Michelle and her friend Latoya Musashi by using little cheap flashlight keychains. And they all had to stay out of the couple's way.

Michelle had stated that this last bit was the hardest thing to do, but they'd be able to pull it off if they were quiet enough.

Serena's stomach growled, and she moaned in response. "Look harder, Rini!" she hissed. "I'm starving!"

"What am I, chopped liver?" the younger girl demanded. "I'm hungry, too, but a job's a job! And I'm not quitting until—" She suddenly gasped.

Serena looked up at her future daughter. "Did you find the doughnuts?" she whispered.

"No, Serena! Even better!" Rini looked down at her. "I found Allen! Get the flashlight!"

As the small device was passed up to the pipsqueak on her shoulders, Serena reached for her Sailor Scout communicator. She pressed the small red button on the side. "CrowFeet," she whispered, "come in, CrowFeet. This is Moon Dust, reporting for duty."

Raye glared at her. "CrowFeet," she muttered. "That's the stupidest code name I've ever heard!"

Well, it was better than CharredCrow. Which sounded a lot like the word "charcoal". "I found the prancing squirrel," Serena continued.

Amy spoke up. "Prancing squirrel?"

"The prey is on its way to the trap!"

"What prey?" both girls demanded.

"We found Allen," Rini stated blandly, still flashing the light on and off.

Raye growled. "Why didn't you say so?" She put a hand to her forehead. "And, Rini, you can stop with the signal now. You might get Amara's attention."

And suddenly Serena was dropped back into her sullen mood. If they were caught, they might never hear the end of it from Amara _or _Michelle...

COPHCOPHCOPHCOPH

Amara had been standing against the wall for the past fifteen minutes, actually taking Serena's advice. And it was the worst thing she's ever done. Michelle had gone someplace else, probably finding one of her male friends, which left her to be by herself.

Her hand reached up to finger the cross pendant around her neck, anything to keep from leaving the wall and searching the place for her younger cousin. She'd do anything to tell Michelle that it'd be best to forget the three hours, go home, make the others pay the price...

She saw a figure come up beside her, leaning up against that same wall. She could feel him staring at her...staring. The sensation made her more than a little uncomfortable. Not the same discomfort she felt around Allen. No, this was something different.

Something akin to agitation.

"So," the newcomer said, "nice night, huh?"

Amara only shrugged, glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Dirty-blonde hair and hazel eyes. Eyes that were glazed over in a state of drunkenness. It was amazing the guy wasn't slurring. Which must mean he was still sober with more than a shred of his dignity still intact.

"What's your name?"

"That's for me to know," she grounded out, "and you to never find out." She didn't come here searching for relationships. Giving out her name would suggest something she didn't mean.

"Ah... Feisty, aren't we?" He trailed a finger across her arm, dangerously close to the faint indentions the Heartsnatcher had burned there. Then he chuckled. "Don't worry. I have ways of dragging out things. Information. Maybe even...something else?"

She edged away the best she could, a bit of the fear from this morning at the track thrumming through her veins. What she would give to be in a different position than this...

Allen's face appeared in her mind. Then the memory of how he had held her—Sailor Uranus, really—and how he had done everything he could to defend her earlier today. A deep yearning filled her soul. Three hours spent alone. No one worthwhile to share her time with.

"There you are," a bass voice said. "I knew I'd find you here."

Amara looked up to see—lo and behold!—Allen Toriyama grinning at her. Had to be her mind playing tricks on her, similar to a mirage in the sweltering heat of the desert. She shook her head, glanced away.

He grabbed her hand, the contact making her heart leap for joy. She looked back into his sparking bright eyes, saw the grin spread wider. Allen pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her waist. "You know better than to run off like that. Had me worried sick."

Amara rose an eyebrow. _Run off?_

As if reading her mind, he gave her a quick wink, slightly nodded towards the guy he had drawn her from.

"Oh..." she muttered. She gave him a sheepish smile, gave him a pleading look and hoped he knew she was acting along with him. "Sorry, honey. Just had to get some breathing room."

By the amusement she saw reflected in his emerald orbs, there was a chance he took the endearment to heart. But he looked back at the other guy, flashed him a grin of his own. "Thanks, pal, for keeping an eye on her for me." His arm now slid along her shoulders, and he started to lead her away form the secluded wall in the back of the room.

His grip was possessive, gentle in its own way. Her pulse accelerated at being this close to him, so close that she could smell his masculine scent if she so desired. But she couldn't let herself indulge in such pleasures. That was for the other feminine girls to do.

She felt his thumb brush against that spot on her upper arm, where the indentions were. Last time she had checked, the lines were hardly visible. The only way someone could know they were there was if they were to feel along her arm.

The scrape on her neck, however, had merely scabbed over, hiding in plain sight. She hadn't bothered to place a bandage over it because there was no point. Besides, if she were to transform, the choker would hide it perfectly.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Amara looked up at him, shrugged her shoulders after a moment. "Does it matter?"

"Of course. Anybody who should harm a woman such as yourself is bound to face my wrath." His hold tightened. "Now 'fess up."

She stopped where she was, feeling his arm drop from her shoulders. She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her head to the side. "Your wrath."

Allen narrowed his eyes. "I'll have you know that I beat up a guy two years my senior. I can take down any man."

"I'm sure you can."

He just stared at her for the longest while, his eyes traveling every part of her. She wanted to turn around at that instant and leave this place behind, take her car and drive for miles...but something glued her to the tile floor.

"This isn't what you're used to, is it?" he asked.

Amara blinked, staring at him intently. "What makes you think that?"

"All of your emotions are in plain sight. I can read you like a book." He wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her closer, closer than she had been with him in front of the stranger. "It's like you're in a cage or something. But hardly anyone knows you here. Act like you would if you could start over."

The intensity of his gaze was overpowering, and she had no choice but to glance to the side. She felt his breath lightly fan the space between her eyes, and never had being this close to a man ever frightened her and yet comforted her.

Allen's words sounded a lot like what Michelle had told her before they had left the house. Truth rang in what they had both said, which soothed her even more. But if she were to screw up, then he'd know exactly who she was...which would raise questions.

Stepping a bit closer to her, Allen planted a kiss near her hairline, a feather-like touch much like the one from a few days ago. Her heart picked up a notch, her breath lodged in her throat. If only knew know how he made her feel, how he made her react...

"You smell pretty," he murmured. "It's...familiar in a way."

"F-familiar?" Amara stammered.

He probably hadn't heard her, because there was no answer. Instead, he stepped away, his hand slipping down to one of hers, a faint smile tipping the corners of his mouth. "Come with me," he said, leading her through this cheap idea of a ballroom.

"Where?" Part of her wanted to know, needed to know. The other part of her didn't care, would rather follow this man to the ends of the Earth if it meant she could stay with him forever.

She blinked in surprise. _That was weird. I'm _never _like this..._

"I'm getting you out of this place. There's too many walls. Too many people."

Her eyes narrowed. This from the guy that practically told her to change for the night, to relax. _Who's being paranoid now, huh?_ "And do you happen to have any plans after this?"

"Nope. None." He brought her back up beside him. "Except to get to know a pretty woman better."

Amara wrinkled her nose at him. "Your idea of charming women? If I had to guess, I'd say it's been a while since you've had yourself a girlfriend."

"You're right. About two years. There's been no one I've been interested in." He winked at her, his smile widening. "Unless you'd be willing to fit the job's description."

Every muscle in her body stiffened. She was instantly brought back to that night at the track, where she and Allen had unknowingly met. Even then, he had a way of bringing out the strangest reactions in her.

Allen chuckled. "That seemed to have not worked," he mused.

"I'm thinking around the same lines."

"Well, then... I guess I'll have to figure out a different way to woo you."

_Woo...me...?_ Another one of those strange concepts: a man chasing her. Not for sexual pleasures, but most likely just for an actual relationship.

He suddenly spun her around in a full circle, caught her by wrapping an arm around her waist. The next thing she knew, she was being tilted backwards, Allen's body hovering over hers. His lips dangerously close to hers... "I bet no man's ever done _this_ to you before," he murmured.

Amara couldn't speak. How could she, when all she could think of doing was leaning up just a tad so that she'd be able to actually kiss him instead of wondering, wishing... It began to be hard to breathe. Yet again. "Y-you can...raise me up now..." she forced out.

He brushed his lips against the corner of her mouth, still flashing her that devilish smile of his. "As you wish."

**A/N: Hmm... Curious, curious. Does he know that this woman is really his friend Ten'ou? Or does he think that she's just some random girl he met at a casual get-together such as this?**

**How was it possible that moments after he walked in the door, he walked up to Amara, anyway?**

**And what in the world is Michelle's plan?!**

**Only one way to find out: keep reading. As usual, I will have another chapter next week.**

**Please review!**

**-BDR**


	15. Chapter Fourteen

"**CHAPTER FOURTEEN"**

His nearness brought both the urge to be silent and the urge to talk nonstop. They had been sitting in the back lawn of this place for what felt like four hours, just enjoying the silence that came from being away from large crowds.

Which was okay by her. She'd pick sitting outside than standing inside...though, either way, she'd be wearing this horrid dress.

"Have you lived here long?" he suddenly asked, smiling down at her.

Amara only shrugged her shoulders, not willing to give out too much information. No matter how much he tries to charm her like he did back there... "It feels like forever." She cleared her throat. "How about you?"

"Only got here a few days ago. My boxes still have yet to be unpacked. I've been pretty busy."

"Doing what?"

"Getting my friend out of trouble. Keeps provoking this guy named Kyo. But I'm willing to show that guy who's boss, no matter how many times it takes me."

She narrowed her eyes. _Okay. I get it. You're stronger, the greatest. Will you just please shut up about it!_ "Can't you just let your friend stand up for himself?"

Allen frowned and shook his head. "Ten'ou keeps acting tough...but I can tell otherwise. And I've seen it in action." He growled, probably from the memory of what he had experienced earlier today. "I swear...I could have killed him for touching—" He broke off and looked away.

"Your friend sounds like a pretty lousy person for making you fight his battles."

"No. Ten'ou never asked." He sighed. "I'm thinking that if I keep trying to get close... I think Ten'ou's hiding something from me."

_Sorry, honey. But it's for your own good._

"What's your name?"

Taken aback by this one question that appeared out of nowhere, Amara glared at him out of the corner of her eye. "No way. You first."

He laughed. "Paranoid much?" He then took one of her hands in his, just as he was so fond of doing tonight. "My name is Allen Toriyama."

_I know. But thanks for not pushing the issue._ "Nice to meet you, Allen."

Allen frowned again, his green eyes flashing in offense. "And...?"

She sighed heavily, looked up at the stars twinkling in the nighttime sky, trying to ignore the blush that blanketed her face. "I'm...Amara."

Allen's expression softened, and he lifted her hand to his mouth to kiss the back of it. Her blush deepened right as he said, "Amara... It suits you."

"It...suits me?"

He nodded his head with a small hint of a smile. "A beautiful name for an equally beautiful woman."

She shook her head. "You're just saying that. It's just another line that men feed women just to get their hopes up."

"You're right."

Her eyes widened a fraction. _Well. Never expected you to agree so quickly._

"That _is_ another line. But I happen to mean it wholeheartedly."

"Save it for some other woman who cares!"

"Why are you being like this?" he demanded.

"Why are you being so persistent? You've only known me for a few short hours!"

He jolted as though being shot by electricity, and he looked away again. "Only for forty-five minutes," he corrected. He ran a hand through his dark brown hair and let out a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry. I...guess I thought you were someone I knew."

Amara shrugged off his words, reached over to place a hand on his arm. Just so she could feel his skin against hers. She should be thanking him for this morning, not getting all defensive when it came to sappy love stuff.

Everything around her slowed to a crawl. Love. Not infatuation. Not imagination. But love. Something she should have kept herself from feeling. Something that he might not feel for her. Because he didn't know that his friend Ten'ou, his dream girl Uranus, and this mystery woman Amara were all one and the same.

Allen's finger brushed against the faint horizontal indentions near her shoulder, the caress soft and his finger callused. "Where'd you get this?" he asked quietly.

The spot where he touched ignited with a small flame, doing wonders with her nerves and heart and mind. Her pulse danced, her nerves tingled, her mind went in twenty different directions... "I-I can't explain it," she forced out.

He sifted a bit closer to her, leaned over until he could brush his mouth on the small scar on her neck. "And this...?" came the whisper.

Her eyes slid closed at the small touch, her head shaking minutely in answer to his question. It should disgust her, how he pointed out where she had been marred. But...it didn't. Strangely enough.

His gaze was as warm as his body seemed to be, and she couldn't help but be pulled deeper...deeper still... "Amara," he whispered.

Adrenaline surged through her veins as her eyes shot open again to see that Allen had wheeled himself around, stopping right in front of her. "What are you doing?" she breathed out.

"Trust me."

She sucked in her breath, remembering the last time he had uttered those words.

_He shrugged his shoulder, said, "I'll come down to congratulate you when you win."_

_Amara shook her head with a frown. "You don't need to do that."_

"_Sure I do. Just to make sure Kyo doesn't land a hand on you." Allen looked at her for a few moments before saying, "Trust me."_

"_It's not that easy," she replied quietly._

"_Trusting others is never easy. That's why people get out there and do it anyway..."_

"Please."

Amara looked into his emerald green eyes for a moment, then finally answered. "I trust you."

That was all the answer Allen seemed to need. He leaned forward slowly, and her mind clicked in the puzzle piece that clued her in on what he was planning to do. Her hand landed on his chest, causing him to stop before he could press his lips against hers. "I thought you trusted me," he said with a lilting laugh.

"I do," she replied. "It's just...I'm..."

"Nervous?"

She glared at him. "Nervous?" she exclaimed.

He winked. "Or maybe you've never been kissed."

She huffed out a laugh. "Of course I've been kissed."

"Oh? By who?"

_You._

No. That didn't count. That one kiss was solely for Sailor Uranus. Why would it be for Amara Ten'ou?

She could feel his breath on her cheek, her lips tingling with anticipation. And he probably knew it, too. Being why he's torturing her, prolonging the moment.

"My thoughts exactly," he said, brushing his lips subtly against hers. "Never been kissed. Properly, of course."

"Properly?" Her voice came out breathless, as though she had been running a three-hour marathon.

"Mm-hmm. In order for it to be properly done, the woman has to remember who had kissed her...and what it felt like."

"Sounds...intriguing... What if she doesn't remember?"

"Then we'll have to try again until she _does_ remember." He then pressed his lips softly against hers, much like he did after the fight with the Heartsnatcher. The shock of it still emitted a gasp out of her. She tried to match his gentle caress with her own, nearly melting as he drank from her.

Allen pulled away slowly, his eyes glistening with amusement. "Any luck?"

She pretended to think, looking up at the stars again. Then, looking back at him, she shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

He chuckled as he placed a quick one on her cheek, then zeroed in on her mouth again. This time he deepened it a little, occasionally teasing her by pulling back a bit and making her follow. But he never did what she had heard other women say men like him did. Forcing himself onto her against her will...probably doing whatever he could to get what all men wanted.

In her mind, all men wanted women for was sex. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Amara!" she heard a familiar voice call.

Allen lifted his head again, looked down at Amara's face. "I think you're being summoned."

She narrowed her eyes. "You're just...letting me go?"

Confusion flashed in his eyes. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

She shrugged her shoulders, reluctantly stood up. The voice had sounded similar to Michelle's, but she couldn't see her younger cousin anywhere. Which was just as well. He didn't need to know everything about her "identity" yet.

Right as Allen stood up, Amara turned to leave. "I need to get going now," she muttered.

He grasped her hand in a firm but gentle hold. "Will I see you again?"

Sadness unlike any other crashed within her. _Yes!_ she wanted to shout. _You will!_

But all she did was shrug again. "I don't know," she told him. "I really don't know."

He pulled her close, wrapped an arm around her waist, leaned forward to give her a slow, deep kiss that made her entire world spin at an astonishing speed. He really did have a way of making her act differently than she did around everyone else...

_Can't you see I've fallen for you?_

He brushed his finger against her cheek as he stared into her eyes again. "Thanks... I'll see you around."

"Yeah." _In my dreams._

COPHCOPHCOPHCOPH

Kaorinite stood over the scrap heap in the middle of the park, smiling to herself. This plan would work perfectly. The Sailor brats would be destroyed, the pure heart would be taken with no distraction. And if there was no talisman, the heart crystal would be shattered.

And the target would be left alone to die.

"Gam!" she commanded into the night, extending her fist towards the fallen video game. "Rise again! Do your work as planned! And let nothing get in your way!" She opened her fist to release the replication of Gam's pod.

The pink seed entered the control panel of Soul Caliber II. There was the sound of a heartbeat, then silence.

Kaorinite couldn't help but chuckle. The chuckled turned into a full bout of maniacal laughter that echoed throughout the park. "Nothing can stop us now!" she shouted as thunder rolled in the distance. "Try as hard as you can, Sailor brats! But we will rule!"

**A/N: Uh-oh. Don't the Death Busters ever give up? And who would have thought that something like THIS could happen?**

**Surely not my best. Almost everything about this one is the same as the original story I had written back in March (the one I never posted). But the original somehow had Allen shirtless, and I had no way of including that here because...I didn't feel like making it completely the same as it was before... Boy, that was interesting to write!**

**I still think I'm slacking off, though.**

**Oh! I might have to boost up the rating in one of my future chapters. There's some interaction between Musashi and Ten'ou that makes me debate on whether it's content suitable for PG-13, but I'll look into it and make my choice by next Tuesday. **

**Until then!**

**-BDR**


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**A/N: Boy, these next few chapters are going to get **_**interesting...**_** What's up now?**

"**CHAPTER FIFTEEN"**

The look on her older cousin's face kept flashing through her mind, how her eyes had been a deep green though her impassiveness suggested otherwise. And the way she kept looking over her shoulder like that... Michelle never thought she'd see Amara act this way. Ever.

It's gotten worse since that night she snuck out of the house. The secrets, the ire, the odd behavior. She still had yet to ask Amara about it. Or maybe Allen, since they've gotten to know each other... But when was the older girl able to confront strangers with this type of thing?

Unless it couldn't be helped.

She shook her head as she looked through her locker. Right now it was a free period, there was nothing to do (though she wasn't bored, because those who are bored are also destructive) and Amara was nowhere to be found. Which was just was well, because she really didn't feel up to deciphering any mixed emotions coming from the older girl.

Oddly enough, her cousin was attempting to act like nothing had ever happened last night. Though she was haunted by something. By memories that needed to be suppressed, perhaps?

Michelle hesitated in her search, frowning. Then there was the search for the talismans. Allen had been a target not too long ago, and something told her that there was no rest for the weary. They hadn't been able to look at the crystal, so there was a chance that...

Amara wasn't going to like that one bit. If anything, it'll just drop the woman's mood even more. Sometimes, though, there was a price to pay for being a Soldier. _"...Be careful not to get close. We're not guaranteed some of the best things in life."_

She feared that it was too late for her cousin.

The aqua-haired girl let out a light sigh, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly. Turning around, she saw the light purple-haired girl slowly edge down the hallway.

Latoya forced a smile onto her face, though her eyes expressed a kind of urgency. "I'm guessing everything went according to plan?"

Michelle sighed as well, shrugged her shoulders. "You saw as much as I did. The girls gave us the signal, we saw him march directly over to where she was...and then they waltzed out."

Of course, then there was the little show he had put on for the eight of them, tilting her cousin back like that. Something had sparked between the two at that moment. She had seen it with her very eyes.

The girls must have noticed it, too. Before Michelle had called Amara over, they had been discussing the scene they had witnessed.

"_Looks like love to me,"_ Lita had commented with a grin.

Michelle chuckled. She should have seen this coming. Right when Amara had been protesting outside of the arcade that one afternoon.

Latoya growled impatiently, and the older woman and to blink in surprise at this reaction. It wasn't like this timid little girl to express something other than compassion... "When are they going to stop being so stubborn and admit their feelings to each other?" she demanded.

"It's not that simple," Michelle explained. "Amara's the type of person who won't reveal her feelings for someone else even if she were given the world. For you to know she cares, you have to look as hard as you can."

"Then Allen must not be looking hard enough!"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

The younger girl tilted her head to the side. "Huh?"

"Why would he be teasing her like that last night if he didn't care?" She shook her head slowly. "That's why I planned the eight of us going, then Amara and Allen going in like bats. I wanted to test my idea out." Right now, the evidence was pointing towards her theory being a fact. But there wasn't a lot to go by.

"So...you mean that...?"

"I think so."

Latoya seemed to roll this around in her head a bit, then winced. "Uh...Michelle...?"

The woman in question looked at the younger Musashi with a frown. "What is it?"

"Even...even if you hadn't suggested I tag along, I would have gone anyway."

Her mind suspected that something was up. The way she was stalling. The way she had her hands folded behind her back, her head lowered. The way her eyes darted to Michelle's, then going to a spot on the wall... But she asked anyway. "What do you mean?"

Before Latoya could answer, a large group of kids younger than Michelle ran past the two women. "Quick! Before the show is over with!" one boy shouted.

"Wonder what he's gonna do this time," another replied.

Michelle's stomach clenched. _This can't be good..._

Latoya seemed to gain her courage, because she straightened and looked boldly into Michelle's dark blue eyes. "My brother Kyo was at the party last night. And he saw Amara. I think he's planning on hurting her again, maybe even killing her this time."

The older girl's eyes narrowed as she felt a mixture of both fear and anger spread throughout her body. She immediately began to bark orders at the youngest. "Go find Allen. I'll meet you in the courtyard, and then we'll search from there. Once we find Kyo and Amara, I need you to hide. Just so your brother doesn't come after you next time." Michelle bolted down the hallway as fast as she could, yelling over her shoulder, "Be quick about it! We don't have much time!"

COPHCOPHCOPH

Her mind rolled over the events of last night, just like she had been for the past few hours, even in her dreams. But the chances of her reliving every moment, every torturous and exhilarating moment, were very slim. Very slim, indeed.

Every time she had closed her eyes, she could swear she felt him kissing her again. Softly, sweetly, handling her so gently that she didn't ever want him to let her go.

Her hand reached up to her neck, underneath the collar of her shirt (she had discarded her jacket beside the tree she was at), and she fingered the gold chain still hanging around her neck. She hadn't been able to remove it, just like she hadn't been able to remove that dress until this morning.

Because by just wearing something that women wear almost every day of their lives, she was able to pretend she was something she wasn't. And while she had gotten away, the man she was with had stolen her heart.

The man she was with never knew. Never would find out.

Amara Ten'ou exhaled a heavy breath, reluctantly letting go of the necklace. She leaned back, propped herself on her elbows, closed her eyes. _Is falling in love often like this?_ she wondered, her heart and soul in agony. _Wishing he felt the same? Wondering if he even knows who you are?_ She shook her head. _I can't seem to get him off of my mind..._

The heat of the morning was soon replaced with a shadow, and she cracked open an eye. The smirking face of the last person she wanted to see appeared right in front of her. A shiver of fear rand own her spine, but she did her best to remain expressionless. "Hey, Kyo," she greeted.

Kyo Musashi laughed, the sound maniacal and filled with malice. "That's priceless, Ten'ou! You, the greatest racer, treating me, the unworthy loser, like someone ordinary?" He then glared at her, reached down to grab the collar of her shirt, and yanked her up until they were face-to-face with each other. "You've got a lot of nerve, brat!" he growled.

Something was bound to go wrong. She could tell by the red flecks that had appeared in his blue irises, but there was also a more sinister, more hungry look in them.

_Hungry?_ Her eyes narrowed at the thought. Probably looking for more than bloodshed. Like yesterday's attempts weren't enough.

"Saw you at the party last night," he bit out. "You looked absolutely stunning in that little dress of yours. Did it for your little boyfriend?"

"I don't have a boyfriend," she replied quietly. "Never have."

"Is that right?" Kyo chuckled. "Then who was the guy I saw kissing you like he owned you?"

_He wasn't owning me. Quite the opposite..._ She couldn't let this out, though. It would make her seem weak. Kyo would find some twist in her words, throw them back at her.

"You and that Toriyama guy have been together ever since the day he came here. I'm surprised he waited until last night to kiss you. I'm pretty sure he was using you, though. Anybody would, just to get what they desire most in life. It's bound to work the same way with me." That condescending smirk came back. "Only I won't hold back. I'll give you everything I've got."

Her blood ran cold as the meaning of his words echoed through her mind. This wasn't a fight he was talking about. No. Something different, something much worse... With more confidence than she really felt, she told him, "I don't get what game you're trying to play."

"You don't get what..." he repeated quietly, then his grin became even wider. He reached into his pocket, flipped open the same pocket knife from yesterday. "I'd be more than willing to show you what I mean."

Amara's confidence fled. That one blade... Yesterday's scrape started throbbing on its own volition. How exactly was he going to do this? Rape her and then kill her? Something else, maybe? The possibilities were endless. And there was nothing she could do to stop any one of them from happening.

"You think you have all the power," he hissed. "Seven consecutive wins. I've been racing here longer than you have, yet Coach favors you the most. The crowd adores you. You're invincible. Unbreakable. No one can stop you." The tip of the knife pressed itself against her stomach, the contact making her wince. "But someone can touch you."

Looking around the area, Amara noticed that a large crowd had gathered around, interest locked in every one of their eyes. It made her sick, how everyone would treat this like a show. Like she was their entertainment.

But Michelle and Allen were nowhere to be found.

Allen...

A short bark of laughter brought her back to reality. "Do you know what I'm about to do to you?"

She didn't answer. _Couldn't_ answer.

"I'm about to show you what it's like to have everybody looking at you in your weakest hour. To have every shred of dignity snatched out of your reach," he whispered harshly. "Only by using a knife, my body...and yours."

At that moment, he did something she had never done in her life.

The tremors started, racking her entire body and showing her shame to everyone she knew. She was in this alone. No help at all. And no way of fighting back.

Kyo chuckled, taking one more step towards her. "How's it feel to be marked down, Amara Ten'ou?"

Painful.

Agonizingly painful.

**A/N: You might think that I have some sort of sick pleasure writing something like this. You'll be thinking the same thing **_**next**_** week when I go on with this situation. Just had to spice things up a bit.**

**Me and my strange ideas...**

**I had taken some of the words of a chorus of a song and fit them in here. I hope you'll be able to locate which paragraph they've been embedded in. But the song is called "Unbreakable" by Fireflight, and the lyrics are:**

"_**God, I want to dream again/Take me where I've never been/I want to go there/This time I'm not scared/Now I am unbreakable/It's unmistakable/No one can touch me/Nothing can stop me."**_

**Another week, another post. I live for keeping people in suspense... **

**-BDR**


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**A/N: For this chapter only, the story is rated M just in case. The rest are of them are rated T. One of those last-minute decisions that I'm still not sure about...**

**Amara might turn a bit OOC, but bare with me here.**

"**CHAPTER SIXTEEN"**

As she was pushed against the tree behind her, stars appeared behind her eyes and her head began to hurt. But she welcomed that physical pain as Kyo's body completely covered hers, the knife up against the side of her throat. Any other person would have stayed perfectly still while a weapon was threatening to kill them in a single stroke. Instead, she began to struggle, wincing as the blade roughly slid downward and made a mark.

"Dear Amara," he mocked. "Don't be like this. You know it'll be over with before it even starts."

Not the type of thing she was wanting to hear. If anything, it made her fight even more. And this time, the knife dipped to the lower right. Amara couldn't help but cry out in agony, her hand reaching up to cover her newly-formed wound.

Kyo's fist crashed against her cheek, jarring her head to the side again. Another cut was made, this time against one of her fingers. Her world titled as the pain slammed against her, the nausea gripping her stomach as blood dripped onto her white uniform shirt. It shouldn't bother her this much...

"How's it feel?" she heard him hiss in her ear. The knife moved to the very top of her shirt, resting against the very first button. "How's it feel to be helpless, to not know how to fight back?" Kyo's mouth pressed itself against the shell of her ear, his free hand on her waist. The knife slowly dragged itself down. "You matter to no one at all, not even to your little boyfriend."

The slow sound of fabric tearing filled the courtyard. That one small noise, plus the echo of his words in her mind, made tears prick Amara's eyes. But she didn't dare let them loose. _No one at all... No one at all..._

His left hand slid to the bare skin of her stomach, slowly skimmed up to finger the edge of the bra she wore. Amara winced as he chuckled, pressing the knife-holding hand to his head. "Oh, this is priceless, folks," he murmured. "Whoever knew that Amara Ten'ou, tough girl, wore white lace? Too feminine for the likes of you. But I guess everyone has secrets."

More secrets than he'll ever know. Good thing she had removed her jacket before he came along; the pockets held her transformation wand and her communicator. There'd be a lot of explaining to do if he were to find them...

The knife angled down to her belt, cut the leather item with a quick flick of the wrist. He then slid the cold steel into the waistband of her pants, still smirking. "I wonder what you're hiding under here."

Men's laughter came from the crowd, encouraging Kyo to continue to defile her uniform, and the green-and-blue patterned uniform pants slipped from her body.

Cat calls and wolf whistles were emitted from the large throng of people as her torturer revealed every bit of her to them. There was no way to hide her shame, to break free, to keep the tremors away. She couldn't say a word or make even a single minute sound as his hands trailed over the white lace clothing that hung low on her hips.

"What are you going to do now, Ten'ou?" he bit out. "Going to fight me? Or going to let me have my way?"

Amara's eyes squeezed shut as the tremors intensified. She shook her head. "I don't care..." she whispered. "I don't care..."

"Leave you alone for five minutes!"

She opened her eyes at the sound of the bass voice, a few tears leaking out. Looking over Kyo's shoulder, she saw Allen Toriyama standing with his arms crossed and a glare in his eyes.

Michelle stood beside him. "Kyo! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"I'm not," Kyo answered. He gently skimmed his knife along Amara's stomach again, that crazed grin still intact. "I finally found the weakness of Amara Ten'ou. Nothing can stop me now." He snickered. "Since you're here now, I think I'll take her roughly and let you watch the show."

Amara's eyes widened. She could remember that night at the track, how she had glared at Allen. _"You're all the same... Trying to get the same thing, no matter what it takes..."_

But...Allen had never tried to force himself onto her. That was something that people like Kyo did. Which was the one thing that made these two different.

"Let her go!" her savior grounded out.

Kyo only gripped her tightly, brought her around until her back was pressed against his chest. One arm hooked itself around her waist, while the knife's blade slid itself beneath the waistband of her underwear. "Come on, Toriyama," he said, "don't you want to see?" The fabric ripped.

Michelle looked away, covering her face with her hands. She muttered something like, "Get her out of there, quick."

But something strange sparkled in Allen's eyes, a look she hadn't seen since that day they had been walking to the arcade together. "I'm not going to deny it," he said quietly, "but I don't' quite like the way you're handling her."

"Why?" Another small tear.

The point of the blade gouged itself into her skin, just enough to cause pain. She tried shifting to get away from the tip of the blade, only to have it stick into her skin again. "Allen," she breathed out.

"You're torturing her!" Allen shouted. "Let her go, now!"

"I don't think so," Kyo answered. His lips grazed Amara's temple, sending a shiver of fear down her spine. "The little brat needs to learn—"

"She doesn't need to _learn_ anything. Except what it feels like to be loved, not stripped until she has nothing."

Kyo's body stiffened. "Fine," he said after a while. "You can have your sorry little girlfriend." He gripped her by the hair and flung her towards the ground. She could feel the hatred in his gaze as he said, "Know that I'm not finished with you, brat!" Then he turned and walked off.

Michelle's voice thundered around the thick horde of people still surrounding them. "Okay, show's over! Time to hit the road!"

Amara sat where she was for the longest time, curled into a little ball and using the remains of her shirt as a refuge. Her body still shook violently, and it was all she could do not to give into the emotions that swirled around in her soul. The simmering hatred for Kyo, for making her feel so weak. The freezing stabs of fear at being exposed to...everyone.

The unexplainable feeling of love—very similar to hatred—that she had for Allen. The one emotion that made her want to cry the most.

She soon sensed Allen's presence kneeling in front of her, though she never looked up to acknowledge him. All Amara wanted to do was sit here, let the wave pass over...then forget it all by going to the track. To feel all of her worries being scattered on the wind. Running faster than they possibly ever could.

There was a heavy sigh, then, "Take off your shirt."

Amara finally looked at him, her hand grasping the torn piece of clothing he had mentioned. "No," she said. But the word sounded weak, desperate for help. She couldn't help but shrink back as the one word echoed in her mind.

"Amara, please," he said even quieter. "Take off the shirt."

_Amara._ The name spoken at this moment scared her more than ever. But Kyo had spoken it when Allen had first gotten here, to this little scene he had etched into history...

She did what her best friend had told her to do, slowly removing it and handing it to him. Allen proceeded by pressing the white clothing against the side of her neck, where Kyo had sliced her not too long ago. The expression on his face was that of concentration. And his emerald eyes held a mixture of concern, anger...and something she should be able to recognize, yet couldn't place it for the life of her.

Not able to handle the silence even longer, Amara clear her throat. "How'd you know that my name's Amara?" she asked, fully knowing the answer.

His mouth curved into a small smile, and he hesitated before reaching forward to cup the gold cross that was still hanging around her neck. "This. You wore it last night. Correct?"

Not the answer she was hoping for. Of all things, Kyo had to practically strip her in front of Allen for him to see the pendent. If she hadn't been wearing it, maybe he'd be able to fin dout she was a woman by seeing her underwear _and_ her breasts... The thought made her begin to flush, and she looked away. "This is mortifying," she whispered.

Allen only shrugged his shoulders, started removing his jacket. "I can imagine," he muttered.

"He tore everything I have. There's no way I can go back into that building."

"Sure you can." He was soon bare-chested, holding his shirt out to her. "It's a little big, but it's something."

Amara shook her head. "I couldn't possibly—"

"Take it, Amara. As an apology. For not being there sooner."

She reluctantly took the shirt, slid it on and started fastening the buttons. "Great. That solves the shirt problem. What about my pants? And my belt?"

"We'll figure something out." Another long silence passed between them before Allen reached for her. "Come here," he muttered, drawing her closer.

She soon found herself in his arms, and then felt each emotion crash into her again. Amara inhaled his masculine scent, the smell bringing her back to the night before. The sweet kisses, the gentle way he held her, the words that needed to be spoken... Then came the way Kyo had handled her, rough and painful. The shakes came again, though she struggled to repress them. "Why do you do this?" she asked. "Why do you keep doing this for me?"

He exhaled a small breath, his thumb softly stroking her arm. "It's hard to explain. I guess I'm just too protective for your own good."

"I thought you had left me..." she found herself whispering. At this one admission, her entire body tensed up and she went to pull away. "I'm...I'm sorry. I—"

"I would never leave you," he said softly. "You're too precious for that."

Precious. First he calls her beautiful, now he calls her precious. Very odd for a man to be using those endearments when talking about _her_. But she could get used to this from him...

"Look at me."

Amara raised her head up, looked him straight in the eyes. "What?"

"I need to tell you something."

All she could do was nod her head, not trusting herself to say anything.

Allen's hand cupped the spot here Kyo had hit her, and she leaned into his hand instead of shying away. "Honey...not all men are brutal as you've seen for the past few days." He shook his head. "I will never do anything to purposely hurt you. Do you understand?"

Amara's mind still flashed back to not too long ago. Her mind played tricks on her, and she knew it, saying that it was no big deal. Things like this happened all the time. It shouldn't bother her...yet it did. Yet it still did.

It was a mixture of everything. Sex for power. Blood and pain. Humiliation in front of everyone she knew. But, no matter what Kyo thought, she wasn't going to walk up to the coach and demand to be kicked off the team. Because she wasn't going to let him win.

"Hey. I'm here for you," Allen murmured. "Just like I was yesterday, and two days before that."

She gave him a shaky smile, teasing him by asking, "You care? I'm flattered."

Allen stared at her for the longest while, his darkened green eyes filled with sorrow. He looked like he was bout to say something, gave up, his hand moving to the nape of her neck. Leaved forward to press his mouth softly against hers, just like he had last night and in her dreams.

As she kissed him back, she finally let the tears flow.

_You know my name. You know I'm a woman. But you'll never know how I feel._

**A/N: This is most likely the last time I'm writing a chapter like this. Ever.**

**Okay. So Allen knows Amara's a woman. Only...he doesn't freak out like everyone else. Why? Well, it could be because he's got that same "air of sophistication" as Serena calls it. Could be because of something else entirely.**

**Ooo... It's still a mystery...**

**More next week!**

**-BDR**


	18. Chapter Seventeen

"**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN"**

"_Allen! Allen, come quick! Ten'ou's in trouble!"_

The words that little purple-haired girl had shouted to him still rang in his head. His friend, once again, being tortured by Kyo. But it wasn't like this before. Never had he had the urge to take Kyo's knife and stab him with it until he bled and died.

Part of him wished that he had. But Ten'ou—Amara—would be caught in the middle. The creep would have swung her around right when he lunged.

Big mistake.

So he opted to talk it out. Even though his blood was boiling. And every synapse in his brain screamed the same words Michelle had voiced. _"Get her out of there!"_

This was the first time he had actually gotten to talk to the younger cousin. While Amara was changing into a spare change of clothes that she had miraculously packed in the trunk of her car, Michelle had thanked him profusely.

"_Usually, she acts like these encounters are no big deal. She shrugs them off like it was nothing."_

_Allen huffed out a laugh. "I've known her for about four or five days now. From what I've seen, she has a _marvelous_ job of showing how strong she is." The words dripped with sarcasm, and he hoped Michelle noticed._

"_You have to admit it, though. Every other woman in her situation would have given up, called it quits already." She crossed her arms over her chest. "You've found someone special. Might be stubborn and ignorant more times than most, bit it takes a lot to break her."_

The ladies' room door opened, and Amara stepped out with a sigh, running a hand through her bangs. Glancing at him with almost-blue irises, she asked, "Were you standing out there the entire time?"

Allen shrugged with a grin. "So what if I was? Not a crime, is it?"

Her jaw clenched, her eyes turning into a darker blue now. She looked away and held out his white uniform shirt.

He chuckled. "And why are you handing this back to me?"

She turned her gaze back on him quicker than lightning. "You're shirtless! It makes me—"

"Uncomfortable?"

Amara blushed, a rarity for someone like her. "Something like that."

As he took the shirt and began to put it on again, Allen slowly looked his friend over. Blue jeans and a white T-shirt that fit her perfectly, and then there was the uniform jacket that she didn't want to leave behind in the courtyard. It clashed, but she probably didn't care about that.

There were a few pieces of her hair that were dripping with water, which probably proved why she took so long. He stepped forwards and reached out to touch her hair. "Did you have to run your head under a faucet?"

Her eyes slowly changed to green, and she shook her head. "No." She cleared her throat. "Had to wash my face."

"Oh..." Probably started tearing up again. He didn't blame her. "Want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what? I'm perfectly fine."

"Your eyes suggest otherwise."

Amara flinched, glanced away. "What do you mean?"

"I've watched you for a while. It's easy to catch on, watching how your eyes change color like that."

"I don't know what you're—"

"I've noticed that your eyes are a unique blue-green color. When you're afraid or upset, they turn green. And when you're angry, they're blue." He took another step closer, wrapped an arm around her waist. "Now...what are you upset about?"

She heaved out a sigh. "Is there something you _don't_ know about me?"

Allen frowned. That was completely unexpected. Something he _didn't_ know? It made him think for a moment. "I'm not going to say I know everything there is to know about you," he finally answered. "It'll take a while for that to happen." He smiled. "You're too unpredictable. Can't even know when you might do something different."

That pained expression was still there, but she smiled back. "You're too complex. Too philosophical."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Anything to amuse you."

A long while passed before she stepped out of his hold, started walking down the hall. Allen caught up to her, but didn't reach out to touch her. Something old him she needed a bit of space. Amara looked at the tiled floor as she went, that small smile still curving her lips... "What took you so long?" she asked.

Oh, boy. "I was...somewhere."

A long silence. "No duh, Allen," came the clipped response. "Everyone is somewhere."

"Who's philosophical now?" He exhaled a breath. "I was at the track."

"Running?" Astonishment laced her voice.

This intrigued him, made him wonder something that he should have pieced together days ago... "No. Just sitting on the bleachers. I had been in pretty deep thought...remembering last night."

Another blush colored her face, and she put her hands in her jacket pockets. "That makes two of us," she whispered.

Not really wanting to press the issue of their quality time the night before, he continued. "It took me a while for someone to find me, tell me what was going on."

"_Michelle said for us to meet her in the courtyard," the girl answered. "Then we'll keep going from there."_

_He growled in outrage. "That isn't good enough! We have to find her now!"_

_She glanced at him over her shoulder, a flash of revelation glistening in her yellow eyes. "You care for her, huh?"_

Allen had never answered. It wasn't anyone else's business but his own. But he _could_ admit something now. "I got so worried about you. I thought that if I didn't get there in time, I'd never see you again." He grinned. "You were my first friend here in Crossroads. Kinda hard to let something like that go."

Amara stopped where she was that moment, staring straight ahead. Her eyes were the regular blue-green color, her face expressionless. Unfeeling. Finally, she said, "You're a great guy, Allen."

He frowned. "Where's this coming from?"

"Three times you've helped me. But I've done nothing in return. What can I possibly do to pay you back?"

"Don't worry about it. That isn't how this works. Besides, knowing that you're okay... That's payment enough."

She turned to face him. "I don't deserve you," she murmured, then seemed to catch herself and her face turned red.

"No one really deserves each other. But don't think I'm going to be asking for payment any time soon. That's not what a friendship is."

Her lips curved into a smile again, and she let out a soft chuckle. "There you go again, Mr. Philosophy." But she leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. "Thanks. For everything."

COPHCOPHCOPH

There could have been a thousand ways she could have told him right then and there, but she didn't. Because, like he had said, they were friends. Friends who loved spending time with each other and shared a simple kiss every once in a while.

Simple? No. Simple was that one that she had given him in the hallway before she turned and walked off. The slow, indescribable, head-clearing kisses from last night and after the familiar fiasco? Definitely not.

She should have been able to tell him how much she cared for him.

She should have been able to tell him that she was the mystery woman from that night.

She should have been able to tell him that it killed her not knowing how he felt about her in return.

Instead, she had said "thanks". Which didn't cut it. A simple, friendly thank-you wasn't going to cure the ache in her heart. But neither would kissing him senseless.

"You get me so...out of character," she whispered. "You make me want to push past all of my ridiculous fears of being a woman and just..."

Those horrible memories of what happened in the courtyard came back full-force. She stopped where she was again, struggling to put them back in their loosely-locked cage in her mind. The only way to not show emotion was to not think of anything, pushing it away. It's how she's been going through with the mission for the longest while now. By not thinking that the target is someone special, it becomes easier.

She took in a few deep, calming breaths. _Don't think. Don't feel._

Slowly, the images, the blade used to puncture her skin, disappeared. She was able to walk again. This time, going slower than before.

She had to talk to Michelle, tell her that she had to leave the car again. Driving didn't seem right, for some reason. Walking did.

It was similar to running, only without the speed. Without the wind, except for if there happened to be a breeze.

A ceaseless throbbing began in her neck, and she reached up to cover the markings Kyo had placed there. She remembered the look of death that he didn't bother hiding from her. His cruel words. _"Know that I'm not finished with you yet, brat!"_

She had to keep her guard raised. There was no telling when he might try something again...

There was a chirping sound coming from her pocket, and she looked in all directions to make sure no one was around before she slipped out her communicator. "Yeah, Michelle?"

"Are you doing okay?" her younger cousin asked.

Amara exhaled deeply. "As fine as I should be." Because of the mission, because of all the sacrifices they had to make, there was no such thing as answering "yes" or "no" to that one simple question. "Where are you?"

"Looking for you. Figured you'd be at the track by now."

"No." Instead, she was playing make-believe with Allen. "Listen, I'm leaving the car behind again. Be sure to get home any way you can."

Michelle gave her a small smile. "Everything going okay between you and Allen?"

"That's just it. I'm not sure." She shook her head. "Anyway, I just need some time alone. Think that can happen?"

Her cousin closed her eyes for only a brief moment before saying, "The storm hasn't passed yet. Be cautious."

"Great," she groaned. "I'll call you if I see anything enemy-related."

"I'll keep my eyes open, as well." The screen went blank.

Amara shut the watch-like apparatus, looking straight ahead. _The storm hasn't passed yet..._

"When will it ever?" she asked no one in particular.

There was no answer. Which was just as well.

**A/N: School's started up again (at least for me), which means I now have more things to worry about on Tuesdays besides posting the next chapter. Like Algebra 2. And Spanish.**

**All in all, this entire thing will be wrapped up by September 16 if everything goes as well as it has been. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see if I can get another one in next week!**

**-BDR**


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**A/N: I know that the episode when Amara and Michelle first met was also one that suggested that the two weren't cousins, but actually lesbian lovers. I know this. But I don't like it. To each their own, I guess you can say.**

**I can't help but refer to that episode here in this chapter. Just in case I get any reviews stating, "Hey, I guess you ought to know..."**

**Anyway, happy reading!**

**-BDR**

"**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN"**

The image kept flashing before her eyes, just as vivid as it was back then. The sky and everything else was red. Everybody in the town of Crossroads crumbled away like clay dolls. And the same words the figure spoke echoed through her mind.

_The Silence is approaching._

A split second later, her mind rushed her back in time to a few days ago. Michelle was perched on the shoulder of the road, right in front of the arcade. Her blue eyes darkened as she put a hand on Amara's arm. _"Hey. Be careful not to get close. We're not guaranteed some of the best things in life."_

Then that Saturday at the track, when Michelle had shaken her head. _"Maybe you're right. Maybe Allen Toriyama only feels something towards Sailor Uranus, not Amara Ten'ou."_

But she wasn't supposed to fall in love. If something happened because of the mission, Amara would gladly sacrifice her own life for a just cause. And then there was the chance of Allen being taken from her...

A hand slowly wrapped around hers, and she looked up with a startled gasp to see Allen walking beside her. She had completely forgotten he was there, he was so quiet. But even with him here, so close to her, he was too far away.

What she would give just to _know..._

Immediately, she chided herself. _Shouldn't have fallen for him to begin with. Why couldn't he be like Kyo, someone I know I can stay away from?_

"Something's bothering you," he said all of a sudden. "Did Kyo try to force himself onto you again?"

Amara shook her head. "No." She looked at the sidewalk, studied the cracks in the seemingly-perfect cement. At the mention of today's events, she started to remember what had gone on after school, before she had met up with Allen. The memories made her cringe.

Allen didn't say anything for a long time, only tightened his hold on her hand. He wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her closer to his side. Her heart warmed at the contact, yet the sorrow kept pressing in at all angles. At least now she knew the meaning of the phrase "love hurts."

Did _all_ women go through this? Or was it just her?

"Amara," Allen said. "Talk to me, honey."

Another endearment. Another thing about him that she had to keep away from her heart... A flush flooded her cheeks as she chose her next words. "Nobody could quite leave me alone about the...uh—" she cleared her throat as she turned a deeper red—"underwear thing."

He looked like he was about to laugh, much to her mortification. But then he ran a hand over his face, his expression turning serious again. "Okay, go on."

She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. "A few of the guys after school tried to have a repeat performance. I managed to fight them off and escape in a run."

Allen nodded his head slowly. "That explains it all."

Yes. That explains why she was five minutes late and out of breath when she finally reached him. That explains why she wouldn't allow him to touch her until they were ten minutes away from the school.

But did that explain her silence? No...

"I was serious back there, Amara. I will never hurt you on purpose."

Amara smiled, stepped away from his gentle hold. "I believe you."

"Yet you don't trust me."

"You're _assuming_ that's what I said."

"Okay, so maybe you trust me—"

"You're assuming _that_, too."

"I said 'maybe'. There's a difference, honey. Maybe you trust me, but you don't trust any other man like other women would. Why is that?"

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, Allen, you seem to be forgetting that my other experiences with men aren't very good. Kyo, for instance."

"So you're convinced that men use women for sex only."

She let her silence answer for her. Mainly because there was no more explaining to do. He had hit the nail on the head.

And she only hoped he would guess right on more things than one.

"What's wrong?" he asked after another long while.

Amara shook her head, glanced away. After a while, she linked her arm around his, bringing her body close to his again. Hesitated before asking another one of those questions that buzzed around her head forever and a day. "What did you mean a few days ago?"

She saw Allen blush, looking down at her with a mixture of shock and confusion in his emerald eyes. She wondered what he might be thinking about, but let him answer at his own pace. "I said a lot of things a few days ago. Which are you talking about?"

Her shoulders slumped in annoyance. He was right, of course, but surely he might have remembered... "The last time we were walking this way after school. You said that I seemed...different. I was only wondering what you meant."

The man beside her swallowed, actually looking nervous. He cleared his throat, ran a hand over his forehead to brush the hair out of his eyes... "You had laughed," he finally said.

Amara blinked. "I had laughed. At a memory. We all get those moments, don't we?"

"Well...yeah..."

She moved her hand in a small circular motion, urging him to continue. "And?"

Allen took a deep breath, let it out slowly. "To me...it sounded feminine."

Now Amara was the one who blushed. For the third time during their walk. "Feminine?" she whispered.

He seemed to gain courage—at least a little—because he was able to voice his next thought without flinching. "Melodious. Beautiful."

Her steps slowed to a crawl as his words echoed through her mind. _What could this mean?_

"That first time you removed your jacket, when I kept staring at you. I wanted to say you looked beautiful, but all I could do was stare."

She released him, stopped in her tracks. She noticed he had done the same, standing two or three steps ahead of her, but she didn't turn to face her. Amara's hands began shaking, and she gripped them tightly to still them. _All of the times I tried to hide from him... My actions were futile._ "You knew," she breathed out. "You knew all along. How?"

A smile was evident in his voice as he answered. "That doesn't make sense. Since it took you all of two days to tell me your name, I don't see why I shouldn't hold onto my secret for a while longer."

"But—" She caught herself before she could go on.

Allen chuckled. "Besides. It doesn't matter right now. All that _does_ matter is that you cold never hide your feminine side, even as you tried hard to. It always seemed to slip out."

Feminine. How could that word even _begin_ to describe her? But, pushing her shock aside, she stepped up beside him again. "Of course it matters," she said with a smile., being sure to make him know that she was still serious. "And I'm going to keep asking you about it until you eventually tell me."

Allen's smile widened, and he took a few steps forward, being sure that Amara was still remaining by his side. "I don't know. I could prove to be more stubborn than you are."

"Stubborn. Is that a bad thing?"

"No. Just happens to be something I love about you."

They both tensed, the words hanging between them. Amara was sure he hadn't meant to let that slip. But it still jolted her unlike anything else she's heard him say to her, save for that admission of always knowing that she was a woman...

When he didn't say anything, Amara suddenly started laughing. A pure tenor sound, and even to her own ears it sounded forced. Sad, but forced. "That's hilarious! You're such a joker!"

She could feel the heat of his gaze on her, and it made her more than a bit uneasy. Why won't he just look somewhere else? Or even find someone else to hang around? Not some girl that everyone suspects is a man. He need someone he can truly love, someone who doesn't have a mission to go through with. Someone who—

"Stop a minute."

The urgency in his voice made her listen to him. Glancing over at him, she noticed he was looking past her now...and into the park. "Sailor Uranus," he murmured. "The first and last time I'll ever see you..."

Amara flinched. _Weird. You see me just about every day._ She tried to edge past him, but he placed a hand on her arm to hold her in place. She stiffened, looked up at his face. "What?"

"I see something..."

"So do I." Her eyes scanned the scenery. "Trees. Grass. Small flowers. It's a park, Allen. Can we go now?"

"Wait." The pad of his thumb started stroking her arm, the heat of his touch going through the uniform jacket she wore and warming her skin. "It's...a box."

Her eyes narrowed. "A box?"

He let out a low chuckle, her nerve endings quivering at the sound. "Only one way to find out."

"Really."

Allen stepped closer to her, pressed a kiss to the shell of her ear. "Come on, Amara. You're not scared, are you?"

Amara swallowed, tried to keep her thrumming pulse steady. "I'm not scared. Just wary."

"What's to be wary about? Where's your sense of adventure?" He began to lead her into the deserted park, heading towards some foreign object hidden by the brush.

"Apparently gone missing." A feeling of foreboding overcame her. A sense of knowing what said object was. "I have a different sense, though," she muttered.

"A sixth sense?"

"Of sorts." Quickly deciding that she didn't want him to march off to his doom, she abruptly stopped him and swung him around. "Allen, I don't think this is a good idea. Why don't we just turn around and go back."

"Amara, I'm just curious. Let me go and look."

It seems like Fate was trying to send her a message. The memory of the last battle a few days ago came to mind. They never did get to see if he held a talisman. Only because her restless, reckless heart had gotten in the way of things. But now fun and games were over with. She knew this now. "You've got a pure heart," she said, placing a hand on his chest. "Even purer than mine."

Allen frowned down at her. "Pure heart?" He shook his head. "No. You're the one with the—"

"Don't flatter me." Her heart cringed at his words. "People with pure hearts rescue others, not sacrifice them for something better. They always reveal what their friends and loved ones need to hear. Never being a coward." _A coward like me._ "Don't go, Allen. Even if it's just something to satisfy your curiosity, it just might get you hurt."

He seemed to stare down at her a while longer before backing up. "You don't have to worry about a thing, honey. I can handle this."

Same old Allen. Still acting strong.

Even as he continued to walk to the box, she reprimanded herself. _Talking about pure hearts at a time like this. He must think I'm pathetic._ She stepped behind a tree, making him believe she had left him behind for good.

Pulling out her communicator, she pressed the aqua-marine button to call for Michelle. "Hey. I think I might need your help," she said when her cousin's image popped on the screen.

Michelle's eyes narrowed. "Where are you?"

"Same as last time. The park."

"I thought we destroyed it."

Amara shook her head. "I don't know what's up. All I know is that Allen's in trouble again."

There was a sigh, then, "I'll be there soon. Just don't show yourself if things turn for the worse."

"I won't."


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**A/N: Introducing Luna and Artemis. For like...two seconds.**

"**CHAPTER NINETEEN"**

"AH-CHOO!"

She reached for yet another Kleenex, then settled back on her heels again to blow her nose. "I...hate...pollen!" she exclaimed with a stuffy nose. Then she continued to mutter under her breath, throwing the tissue into the trash can in the far corner, "One thousand, three hundred forty-eight. In a row!"

They all looked at the raven-haired beauty for the longest time. Amy was the first to speak. "Maybe someone should close the window. Since the pollen's so bad."

"No. I'd rather die." Surprisingly, she wasn't the slightest bit sarcastic. "If we closet the window, we'd have to open it again. It gets too stuffy in this place."

Mina put a finger to her chin. "Maybe...we could take a breather."

Lita grinned. "A walk in the park will do us all some good."

"Yeah, but we have to worry about _THAT _thing over there!" Raye said, pointing at the ditz doodling in her math notebook. "You know how she is, just as much as I do. Gets distracted too easily, and she's childish and bratty. It's amazing we even got her here in the first place! Now we have to drag her out of the shrine, into fresh air, and...ZOOM! She's gone!"

"I think you're being a bit too hard on her," gently commented Mina.

"_Someone_ has to be. She's never going to take her role of Champion of Justice seriously if I don't."

"You've seen how she is in battle, Raye," Amy piped up. "I mean, she might be lazy all the time, but she's fought some pretty testy battles lately. She's handled Uranus and Neptune to the best of her ability. And she's never abandoned us, we're her friends."

Amy was right. Serena really was a different person. Which was proven by that argument they had a few days ago at that diner, when Raye was pushing her theory of the identities of Uranus and Neptune. The Shinto priestess nodded her head, looking at the blonde in question, who had her head propped on her arm, the pencil in her hand moving in quick strokes.

"You're right," she admitted. Raye stood up and walked towards the paper doors of the shrine, put her hand on the door and prepared to slide it open. "Come on, let's—" The last word died on her lips. Her mind spun, her nerves tingling. Bells rang in her mind as that familiar sensation overpowered her. _Oh, no. Not now..._

"Raye?" the others asked, including Serena.

"I sense evil," she whispered. "Evil!"

Lita, Mina, and Amy gasped in shock, while Serena shrieked, "It's too soon!"

Luna the black cat put a paw to her chin, the white cat Artemis watching. "That makes no sense," Luna muttered. "How could they have made another Heartsnatcher pod this quickly?"

"Only one way to know for sure," Artemis replied.

The girls nodded their heads.

"I'll get Rini," Luna said. "You five go ahead and fight some sense into this monster!"

The other four stood up as Raye swung open the door. They all managed to sneak out without catching Grandpa Hino's eye, racing to Who-Knows-Where. All Raye was able to do was lead them forward, using her sixth sense to guide them.

The ringing in her head became louder. She reached into her pocket to pull out a stick with a red jewel on top, the symbol of Mars emblazoned on it. "Everyone! Transform!" she demanded, then held her transformation pen in the air. "MARS STAR POWER!"

"JUPITER STAR POWER!"

"VENUS STAR POWER!"

"MERCURY STAR POWER!"

"MOON COSMIC POWER!"

A flurry of lights danced around each Sailor Scout in their transformation sequence. Blue ribbons, red flames, green thunder bolts, yellow heart-shaped chains. They struck their signature poses and continued to run down the road.

She subconsciously skidded to a stop where she was, extending her arm to hold the others back. "Here," she growled.

"The park?" Sailor Moon squeaked. "Who's evil here, the hot dog man?"

Sailor Mars wheeled on her, planting her hands on her hips. She felt fire burn through her veins, pretty sure her anger sparked in her violet eyes. "Be serious, Sailor Moon! The enemy is here. I can feel it."

Mercury touched her right earring, and her VR goggles flashed onto her face. Her eyes scanned the area for a few moments before she pointed in front of them. "Mars is right. There's the target..." She gasped. "Oh, no! It's Allen!"

"Come on!" Jupiter exclaimed, pushing past Mars and running where Jupiter had pointed.

Mars growled. "We don't have a plan, Sailor Jupiter!" she shouted, running after the tomboyish Scout.

"When do we ever? Just play it by ear!"

The girl had a point there. In every fight they've been in so far, they've won without a strict plan. When they did, it was always screwed up...by either the villain or Sailor Moon.

Sailor Mars narrowed her eyes. The ringing in her ears was getting louder, shriller. They must be close.

And, almost abruptly, it stopped. Hidden by a tree, she looked behind the trunk and saw the familiar upperclassman wearing the traditional Crossroads Senior High uniform, the jacket discarded and the top two buttons of his shirt undone. He was looking over a video game machine, but never touched it. Instead, he simply placed his hands in his pants pockets, his emerald eyes narrowed.

Allen Toriyama. The guy they had to keep track of that night at the party. Unlike Michelle and that other girl, Mars and the others had hidden out of sight and saw the play on things with Allen and Amara outside. Why was he right here?

"Soul Caliber II?" she heard him whisper. "How'd that...?" His eyes clouded over, his jaw clenching.

"Soul Caliber II," Mercury muttered. "That's the same game that turned into the Heartsnatcher a few days ago."

It was? Then...what was the point in coming here? There was no danger. Yet something told her she was wrong. Dead wrong.

"The last time I touched it," Allen muttered, stepping closer to the thing, "it transformed into a demon. And Uranus and Neptune kept mentioning...a pure heart." His head shook minutely, and Mars thought she heard him mutter a name. "Amara."

Amara? What did _she_ have to do with anything? Sure, they were friends—possibly more—but she must have mentioned something to him to make him think about her at a time like this. Strange. But she kept Serena's words in her mind, nonetheless.

"Sailor Moon and Sailor Neptune," Allen continued, "finished off the demon. Something came out of it, something that must have mutated the machine to begin with. So it should be safe to touch." His hand extended towards the video game.

As soon as his hand landed on it, it began to glow with a pink light.

"What?!" Mars and the other exclaimed.

"I thought we destroyed that thing!" Sailor Moon shouted. "How can it transform again?"

"I guess," Mercury said shakily, "you can't keep a Heartsnatcher down."

They all watched as Allen stepped back, mouth agape, the video game shifting until it took the form of a woman. The system was the body, arms and legs and a head forming from the box-like object. Electric cables sprouted from her back and began weaving through the air. "Gam!" the machine shouted with an inhuman shriek.

"That's the same monster as before!" Sailor Moon said.

"Sailor Scouts!" Venus said. "Into formation!"

COPHCOPHCOPH

Allen stared in disbelief. How could this thing still be alive? He'd figured he had nothing to worry about since Sailor Moon and Sailor Neptune had destroyed the demon.

Yet this didn't seem like an ordinary demon.

"What is this thing?" he forced out as he took another step back.

"Heartsnatcher," the thing told him, an evil grin curving her lips. "It's time to see if your heart holds the talismans we seek."

Talisman? What was she talking about? He knew nothing about Heartsnatchers, pure hearts, talismans...

Amara did. Otherwise, she wouldn't have said all of that stuff about _him_ having one.

The Heartsnatcher—Gam—extended her arms, and cables came out like before. Before he could get away quick enough, the wires wrapped around his body as tight as they possibly could. "Hold still," came the half mechanical, half human voice.

There was no way he could move, even if he wanted to, and all Allen could do was stand there and tense up. What was Gam going to do now?

Game extended her arm, fist closed, chuckling as she eyed him and licked her ice-blue lips. "Come on, pretty boy. Your pure heart's coming with me."

Before she could open her fist even little bit, a fireball singed it and she withdrew her arm with a cry. "Who dares try and stop me?" she shrieked.

"You stoop too low to capture a heart that belongs to someone else!" a familiar voice shouted. "Prepare to be vanquished for your evil was...again!" A lone figure stepped out from behind a large bush. She began to do a series of odd poses, saying, "I'm Sailor Moon!"

A little girl wearing a pink replica of Sailor Moon's uniform ran out from the side, began copying her. "And...I'm Sailor Mini Moon!"

"And in the name of the Moon..." Sailor Moon continued.

"We shall punish you!" they both concluded.

Allen looked at them in relief and disappointment. "Sailor Moon..." He narrowed his eyes. If _she_ were here, surely...

Then he remembered what Uranus had told Sailor Moon.

"_I'm not on _your_ team, Miss Moon. Neptune and I work alone. So just stay out of it..."_

Four other girls in Sailor Scout uniforms suddenly stood behind their teammates. "Be prepared to get a treatment from all of us!" the one in red exclaimed.

"Right!" chorused the other three.

Gam's hold on Allen tightened. "Let the games begin," her voice trilled.

**A/N: Getting to the last fight of the entire story. This'll take another...three chapters. Then it'll go to the final conclusion, which will take two chapters. Followed by the epilogue.**

**All in all, we still have six weeks. Which will have me finished by October...**

**I know I said September 16****th****. But I miscalculated somehow. Math is not my strongpoint!**

**Anyway, hope you liked this chapter, and I'll have another one by next Tuesday.**


	21. Chapter Twenty

**A/N: Here's where a few more of those cheesy opening lines come in...**

**Oh, and by the way! Yes, I know I'm late with this one. But power had been out last week, so...I've had to deal with another postponement.**

**Enjoy!**

**-BDR**

"**CHAPTER TWENTY"**

"MERCURY BUBBLES...BLAST!" A wide stream of bubbles shot out of Mercury's cupped hands, surrounded the Heartsnatcher and Allen in a thick fog.

"MARS...CELESTRIAL FIRE...SURROUND!" Small sparks of fire came hurtling in that same direction, about to hit the enemy.

Gam only used her arm to shield her face. Not a single mark was made on her icy-blue body.

She stiffened, her heart lurching. "I say we move in now. They might hurt him." Right when she would have moved to jump down, she felt a hand on her wrist. She looked over at her partner, practically demanding for a valid reason not to go now.

"Uranus, there's nothing we can do. I can sense she's stronger than the last time. Our only choice is to wait until the crystal reveals itself. Then we go."

"But if the target's harmed, we won't ever know." Even as she said the words, she began beating herself up. It hurt referring to him as "the target". She liked it—loved it—when he had just been Allen.

_Don't think,_ she told herself. _Don't feel._

"Remember. We said that no matter what happens, even if we hurt our friends or ones we hold dear, even if the pain threatened to kill us, we were going to find the talismans."

Sailor Uranus looked at the other Scouts, saw how much they were putting into saving him. And just by looking at _him_, held captive in those cables, she let her guard down and admitted to Sailor Neptune what couldn't be kept secret anymore, yet also couldn't be let out. "He's...he's different."

"You love him."

Letting out a startled gasp, her eyes shot back to her partner's.

Neptune nodded her head slowly. "I've noticed. It shows, very evident. The way you've been so secretive, then how your eyes turn green when we mention him." She gave Uranus a sad smile. Tightened her grip on her wrist. "I don't blame you for wanting to fight everyone just to keep him alive. I'd do the same in your situation. But now isn't the time to just—"

The familiar cry of one of the other Scouts jolted her back to the reality of the situation. She looked over to see Sailor Venus crashing to the ground. The other Scout left standing was Sailor Moon.

"Let's just use the others as an excuse to jump down there to save the day," Uranus muttered.

She heard Sailor Neptune sigh. "There's no getting through to you, is there?"

Uranus nearly laughed at how those words kept coming back to her. First from Michelle, then Allen, now Neptune... "No," she answered. "I guess not."

COPHCOPHCOPH

The arm was extended again, fist still closed. "Care to watch the show, Sailor brat?" Gam asked with a sinister crooked smile.

The long-haired blonde stiffened in reply. The fight had been long and treacherous, every Scout going down one right after another. Allen didn't blame her for not wanting to move. He'd have run if the question were thrust upon him.

But it wasn't, and he couldn't budge an inch, even to scratch his head. Which was actually _perfect_ timing, by the way...

Gam was about to open up her hand, and this time a fraction more was revealed. Two black points were showing at the bottom of her palm, something that made him stiffen involuntarily. Slowly...slowly...

A large stick flew by like a boomerang, knocked her in the head. Gam growled at the contact, rubbed the back of her head and looked off into the trees. "Who threw that?" she demanded.

"Long time no see," a familiar alto voice called. "You miss me?"

Sailor Moon and Allen looked at where that one voice had come from, saw a flurry of rose petals that had decided to show up out of nowhere. Two women stood on the branch of a tree, back-to-back with lips curved into sly smiles and arms folded over their chests.

"Who are you?" Gam growled out slowly.

The aqua-haired woman was the first to jump down. "I'm Sailor Neptune. Protector of all things pure."

The sandy-haired woman followed, taking three steps ahead of her partner. "I'm Sailor Uranus. And that pure heart belongs to me," she said, pointing a thumb towards her chest.

Gam laughed hysterically. "Belongs to _you?_ Oh, how could I forget little upstarts like you and Miss Moon over here, hmm?"

Sailor Uranus scowled. "Upstarts?" she bit out, her eyes flashing a deep blue.

"Since you came at such an improper time, how about I let you see the main event of my show?"

Allen thought he saw Uranus's jaw clench, her body becoming rigid. Neptune remained calm and detached, casting her partner a glance out of the corner of her eye.

"Reveal your heart to me!"

He turned back to see her hand open all the way, a black star sitting in the middle of her palm. A flash of pain shot through his chest, right where his heart was, and all he could do was cry out.

"Allen!" he heard Sailor Moon shout.

Allen ignored her, struggled to return his gaze to Sailor Uranus as he struggled for breath. Her eyes were hidden from his view, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Neptune's hand was on her shoulder, her mouth moving into indecipherable words.

His vision blurred right as he looked forward again. A weird star-like crystal was slowly ripping itself out of his chest, and as the pain intensified, he suddenly understood. This was what they were looking for.

He was going to die. He knew this like he knew his own name. Like he knew...everything.

"A...Amara..." he forced out. "I..."

_I love you._

The words were barely out before his vision faded and his mind slowly began shutting down.

One last thing, though, echoed through his memory before all went black.

_Her hand rested on his chest, a sad smile forming on her lips. "You've got a pure heart. Even purer than mine..."_

COPHCOPHCOPH

The agonizing screams hurt her so much that she just had to look away. Watching him suffer...just as he had seen her suffer earlier today... It became heard to block it from her mind, her heart. All she could do was feel both of their pain, barely noticing Neptune's hand on her shoulder.

"Uranus," she murmured.

"It's not supposed to be like this," she whispered in reply. "I shouldn't have let myself go... I should have known..."

"Don't do this to yourself." Her partner's grip tightened. "We're all supposed to make sacrifices. For the sake of the mission."

The mission.

"I told you," she continued, "that day long ago that once you accepted destiny, the desty of being a Sailor Soldier, you could never return to your former life."

And at that time, she didn't care. She was pretty bored with her normal life. Becoming a Sailor Soldier spiced things up a bit. But now...normalcy was all she craved.

_Sacrifices._ The word made her flinch. _I tried to keep you away...but no such luck._

"A...Amara..."

Uranus snapped out of her trance, looked up at Allen again.

"I..." His voice tapered off as his eyes glazed over and he slumped over with a small groan.

Sadness gripped her chest like a vise, squeezing so hard it hurt. But she knew better than to react. Just so they wouldn't see her anger, her attachment. How her heart tore up inside. She didn't even look at Sailor Neptune as she said in a flat, monotonous voice, "Let's get rid of this ting. And see if it's the one."

"Are you okay?" Neptune asked quietly.

"As fine as I should be." Uranus took a brief moment to compose herself, then took a few steps forward. "Let's go."

Sailor Moon glared as they came closer. "What will you do if it's...whatever you're looking for?"

"We're taking it," Uranus replied coldly.

"We have no other choice," Neptune added.

"Even if he dies?"

The pain in her chest intensified, but she managed to keep a straight face and a calm voice. "Even if he dies. That's just how it goes." _Don't let that be the case..._

The Heartsnatcher laughed mechanically as she snatched the heart crystal. "What a nice piece of work! A bit shinier than all the others. Even the scratches are hardly visible. The boss will sure love _this_ little ornament!"

Uranus clenched her teeth. _An ornament?!_

One of the fallen Scouts got up and ran towards Gam. "I'll grind you into dust!" shouted Sailor Jupiter. An antennae sprouted from her tiara and she lifted a hand. "JUPITER THUNDER—"

Sailor Uranus quickly grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her arm around. "Think!" she demanded. "You'll shatter it!"

Jupiter glared up at her in her hunched-over state. "Yeah. But it's no different than what _you'll_ be doing. Your actions are ten times worse!"

"Stay out of this!"

The younger Scout fought out of the iron grip she was in. "_You_ should do the thinking! A friend has fallen for this man! If you decide to follow through with this pathetic mission of yours, you'll hurt someone else in the process!"

"That doesn't matter!" _Don't think. Don't feel._

Sailor Mars marched up as well. "If you're willing to do that, we'll have to kill you!"

Uranus smirked with more confidence than she felt. "Doubt you'd be able to do that." She turned towards the Heartsnatcher. "Focus your anger on this creep right here. Do your little tricks and save the day."

Sailors Mercury, Venus, and Mini Moon walked up as well. Mercury crossed her arms over her chest and said, "We'll have to work together as a team. If you doubt we'd be able to defeat you in battle, you must be strong enough to fight this monster."

"Sounds like a plan to me," commented Venus.

Uranus exhaled a deep breath, examining the situation closely. "Fine," she finally said. "As long as Neptune and I grab the crystal first."

The others hesitantly nodded their heads.

She looked at Neptune, gave her a small smile. "All right," she said quietly. "Let's rock and roll."


	22. Chapter TwentyOne

**A/N: The conclusion to the fight is here.**

**I hate fight scenes... They never really sound right to me. But at least I managed to finish it.**

**-BDR**

"**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO"**

She took a few more steps forward until she was a bit closer to the Heartsnatcher. "Sailor Neptune!" she shouted, quickly kneeling down and cupping her hands together.

Sailor Neptune ran towards her, stepped into Sailor Uranus's hands, and was immediately hoisted into the air. The momentum caused the aqua-haired woman to twist and even do a backflip while sailing towards the enemy. "Now!" her partner yelled.

Uranus watched as Sailor Moon ripped off her tiara and slung it at Gam. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" she exclaimed.

Gam's arm was cut off right as Neptune reached her, a painful cry emitting form the blue-skinned creature. The Sailor Soldier quickly grabbed the heart crystal before landing on the ground. The loss of her arm made Gam lose control of the cables, and her hold on Allen was released.

Without thinking, Uranus quickly ran towards Allen and caught him before he hit the ground. His glazed eyes bored into hers, and her throat closed up. She remembered how his emerald eyes had been so full of life, times when they were darkened with hatred. How he would look at her, make her feel special to him... But reality came rushing back to her in an instant. Who she was at this moment, what situation they were both in. _I'm hesitating,_ she quickly thought. _They're bound to notice. My identity's being threatened._

"Amara..." came a voice below a whisper. "You...you came... For me..."

She gasped, blinked in surprise. That name again... She shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about." She gently lowered his body the rest of the way down, stood up, and went to run towards the others. "Keep that crystal safe!" she shouted to Neptune.

"Keep that _body_ safe!" came Neptune's reply.

Uranus stopped in her tracks, her mind rushing to come up with conclusions. Neptune was protecting the crystal. The other Scouts were fighting. That left _her_ to protect Allen's body. A job she'd absolutely love to do, but her pride kept demanding her to fight with the others...

"Go!" Sailor Mars demanded. "We'll take it from here!"

Uranus growled. "You little twerps think you can—"

"We did fine," Sailor Moon interrupted, "before you came into the picture. Just trust us, Uranus, like I trust my friends."

Oh, really. Last she saw before she and Neptune had stepped in, everyone else was knocked out of the ring. _"Trust us..."_ Uranus narrowed her eyes and backed up until she was right in front of Allen again, muttering, "It's not that easy..."

"Mercury!" shouted Sailor Moon.

The blue-haired girl nodded her head. She cupped her hands together, a ball of blue light forming in the perfect circle she had created with her hands. "MERCURY BUBBLES..." She released the ball full-force. "BLAST!"

The area was then surrounded with bubbles, just like it had been before. So surrounded that Uranus questioned the girl's sanity. The point of a fight was to see where you were attacking. It was pointless to even attack if you couldn't see where you were aiming.

"Straight ahead," Mercury directed.

Then again, she might actually _have_ a brain. She respected them even more, but still believed they might screw up and kill them all. _Best to watch, figure out what they might do next._

Sailor Mars shaped her hands like a gun and pointed them where her ally had told her. "MARS...FIRE...IGNITE!"

The bubbles were burnt through, and the attack happened to catch the Heartsnatcher on fire. She shrieked at the contact, but didn't morph back to her original state.

Sailor Jupiter's antennae extended itself again, sparks of electricity shooting from it. "JUPITER...THUNDER CRASH!"

"VENUS LOVE-CHAIN ENCIRCLE!"

The ball of lightning and the yellow-orange heart chain hurtled towards Gam, the two attacks wrapping around one another...

Once the smoke form the explosion dissipated, they discovered with a vast amount of shock that Gam had disappeared.

Uranus's eyes narrowed. "Where did she go?" she breathed out, quickly looking around her. Her defenses rose a notch higher than they usually did. _Couldn't have gotten far. The crystal is with Neptune, the body is with me._

Sailor Moon folded her arms behind her head, began to turn around. "Well, that's that."

"Don't move!" barked Uranus. "She's still here. Just wait it out."

The others looked at her. "What are you talking about?" the so-called Champion of Justice asked. "She's as good as gone. She _is_ gone!"

Uranus glared at her, the anger and frustration intensifying by the second. _You have no idea!_ "Are you crazy! That's what she wants you to think! She's—" A powerful blow to the head knocked her to the ground. Something hit her in the side, causing her to roll about three or four times until she was lying on her back. All she could do was remain motionless, her mind rushing in attempts to calculate what had happened.

The attempts were futile. Only one thought could ring in her mind. _I didn't see it coming. I never saw it coming..._

Gam appeared right in front of Allen, lying five feet away, as motionless as Uranus was. One of her chords extended over him like a knife. "You won't give me the crystal?" the monster trilled. "How about I end this sap's life? That way, you'll have no choice!"

No choice. That's how it's always been. Everything had been inevitable, no other option to take. Uranus closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Allen," she whispered. "I tried. But sacrifices must be made...and there's nothing I can do about it..."

"_I saw an amazing woman last night."_

Her eyes snapped open, her breath catching in her chest.

"_...But I remember her the most. Reckless, feisty, strong."_

"Allen..." Sailor Uranus struggled to stand up, slowly testing her weight on one foot, then the other. Her breath came out ragged, mainly because of the pain throbbing throughout her body. "You've...saved me so many times... Now's my chance to pay you back... Even if you said not to..."

If she truly cared for him, she wouldn't be giving up like this. All those times when he risked his life, just to make sure she was safe. And it was about time she did the same for him.

Bracing herself, she shot forward.

Gam cried out in shock, and Uranus skidded to a halt. Perched on the Heartsnatcher's back was a little pink-haired Sailor Scout. "Leave Allen alone, you piece of trash!" she shouted angrily.

"You're gonna die soon, you little brat!" said piece of trash promised. "You'll know better than to mess with Gam!" She then started to do a little dance, attempting to throw Sailor Mini Moon off of her.

Mini Moon screamed as she struggled to stay on. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!!" she pled.

The little girl was suddenly soaring through the air, about it hit the ground hard when Sailor Jupiter ran by to catch her.

Gam laughed sinisterly as she stood over Allen again, once again poising the razor-sharp cable over his body. "Be glad you met this pretty boy," she said. "It's time for him to go to eternity!" The needle-like point shot down.

Uranus suddenly wedged herself between the weapon and Allen's body, crouching down on one knee with both hands holding the sharp cable. Instead of pain throbbing through her bleeding palms, anger pulsed through her like a heartbeat in her blood. She gave the Heartsnatcher a heart-felt glare and let out a feral growl.

"What?!" shouted Gam.

"I won't let you touch him!" she exclaimed. "I'm not going to run, nor am I going to watch from the sidelines like the last time. Nothing you can do will change that!"

"Sailor Uranus..." she heard Neptune breathe out.

"You...risked your life for the target?" Sailor Moon asked.

Uranus ignored them both, rose up and took a step forward, pushing Gam one step back. The cuts on her palms became a little deeper, but she didn't care. "_You're_ the one passing to eternity!" She looked over at Sailor Moon, her eyes still narrowed. "You still want to go with teamwork, Miss Moon?" she spat out.

Sailor Moon's scepter appeared out of nowhere—just as it did all the time—and she slammed it into the palm of her other hand. "You bet!"

Sailor Uranus translated the expression she saw on the blondie's face: _But how?_ She smirked as she brought in her arms, pushed back the Heartsnatcher even further and releasing her. Blood dripped like twin fountains from her hands, each drop quickly falling to the ground beneath her.

She saw Sailor Moon flinch, swallow, then start doing her fancy twirls and spins, doing that same freaky dance routine from the last battle. And the battle before that...and the battle before _that..._

Suddenly, she stopped, her scepter out to the side and determination in her eyes. "MOON..." she called out slowly, "SPIRAL...HEARRRT...ATTACK!" The heart-like attack came spiraling towards Gam—probably the reason why it was named the way it was—and Uranus took this time to attack as well.

"Take cover!" she warned everyone else. She lifted a bloodied fist in the air, watched how a large gold orb appeared around her closed hand. "URANUS...WORLD SHAKING!" She quickly lowered her fist to the ground, and the large powerball came barreling towards the enemy.

Both attacks collided with a gigantic explosion. Uranus dove to cover Allen's body as a white light surrounded them all. An ear-shattering scream pierced the air...and all was quiet.

Sailor Uranus looked over her shoulder to see the seed fall out of the Soul Caliber II video game. It cracked open, and a small black ghost floated out of it with a shriek.

Everybody glanced up at each other in relief. Tension still stretched between them, wariness of whether or not each team could be trusted now.

Uranus clenched her teeth. _Kids. Willing to trust anyone they meet. But they won't understand. They'll never understand._


	23. Chapter TwentyTwo

"**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO"**

Sailor Neptune was the first one to move, walking to her partner with the heart crystal hovering over her open hand. "Is it what we're looking for?" she asked quietly.

Sailor Uranus cautiously climbed off of Allen, looked over the star-shaped object. She tried to push out of her mind the fact that this was _Allen's_ heart she was assessing, not just another target. If it happened to be a talisman, she 'd have serious guilt trips about it; it wouldn't be right to take his heart without knowing whether it was hers or not for the taking.

But the answer she found made her want to jump for joy. "No," she said, controlling her voice and her expression. "It's not." Her eyes narrowed then, and she peered at it closer. "Gam was right..."

Neptune frowned.

"The scratches _are_ hardly visible."

The other Soldier smiled. "Love heals all wounds," Uranus thought she heard her murmur. But then Neptune's eyes drifted to the body. "Why don't you return it to him. After all, you helped Sailor Moon defeat the Heartsnatcher."

_Like _that's_ a good reason._ The crystal floated into Uranus's open hand. A hand that was deeply scarred and still flowing with blood. She brought her hand over his chest, and the crystal went down on its own accord. Three drops of blood slowly landed on his white shirt before she jerked her hand away.

She allowed herself to stare at him a bit longer before she muttered, "Come on. Let's go before he awakens." But as she started to stand up, a hand lightly grabbed her wrist. She gasped and looked down to see two green eyes cracked open.

"T-thank...you..." Allen breathed out. "You shouldn't have—"

"I couldn't just let her kill you," she whispered in reply. Then she caught herself. She's got to learn to stop talking around him. He's bound to find out her true identity at this rate. Then again, he couldn't possibly know it was _her_ at this moment. The name he had uttered before he passed out could have been a slip of the tongue. Had to be.

Uranus lightly tugged her arm back a little. "Hey. You have to let me go," she whispered to him. "I have to leave. And you need to rest."

Thankfully, Allen did as she asked, closing his eyes again with a small smile curving his lips.

She couldn't help but look at him for a while longer. The man who had saved her life three times before, captured her heart since that first day, had never seemed so...vulnerable.. Seeing him like this only reminded her of how she could never have him, not as Amara Ten'ou _or_ Sailor Uranus. Even though his heart most likely belonged to the latter, as strange as it was.

A hand lightly touched her shoulder, and she looked up at her partner. Sailor Neptune gave her a sad smile. "We need to get going now, Uranus," she said softly.

It took a moment for the words to register. Immediately, she kicked herself for staying too long. Sailor Uranus stood up, crossed her arms to hide her bleeding hands, and started to walk off with Neptune. "Thanks, kids, for the party," she said in an off-handed monotone. "It was a blast."

"Sailor Uranus! Sailor Neptune!" she heard Sailor Moon call.

Both Soldiers turned around and looked at them. Uranus arched a brow.

"You're just gonna fight and leave?"

"We got what we came for," Uranus replied.

"Maybe some other time," Neptune added.

"So you're just going to leave Allen there alone?" Mars demanded.

Her heart screamed out in protest, but Uranus narrowed her eyes at the question. "I'd rather walk away from a target rather than huddle around him like a weak, emotional fool. I'll join the Sob Squad if I just so happen to change my mind." She turned around again, gripping her arms even tighter now. "Come on," she told Neptune. "Let's go."

COPHCOPHCOPH

Serena sat down with a huff after she de-transformed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Why do they always have to be so mean to us?" she demanded.

"I know." Raye leaned against a tree and looked up at the darkening sky. "Right when it seems like we're their best friends, they decide to turn on us and insult us to our faces."

"Sob Squad?" Mina asked. She sat down next to Serena and pulled her knees to her chest. "That's lower than low. I wish we knew who they were so we could go and teach them a lesson!"

Amy blinked. "That's kind of harsh. Maybe the way to call them allies in battle is to be friends with them in their normal lives. If we teach them a lesson, it'll just make them hate us even more."

"Amy's right," commented Lita. "Though the idea of bashing a few heads is an intriguing one, we'd be giving them mixed messages. Saying one thing, meaning another."

"How do we find their true identities, though?" asked Mina with a frown. "Can't go about with the pick-and-choose route. Ask too many people, and everyone will be suspicious. Serena was right on Saturday. Could be Molly and Melvin. Could be Grandpa Hino and Ms. Haruna. Could be anybody."

Serena sighed heavily. "I just don't see how Uranus could just..."

The image flashed before her eyes, Sailor Uranus standing in between Allen and the Heartsnater, her eyes two twin slates of hardened ice. _"I won't let you touch him!"_

Then of her and Neptune glaring at Sailor Moon and the others. _"I'd rather walk away from a target rather than huddle around him like a weak, emotional fool..."_

"It's like she's two different people," Serena observed. "Protective and cooperative one minute, defensive and hostile the next."

"They're still trying to get to know us," Amy said.

Raye snorted. "Like _you're_ one to talk about Uranus being two different people. You're the same way! Lazy bum one minute, ditzy Champion of Justice the next!"

Serena growled. "What's _that_ supposed to mean, Raye?"

"Exactly what I said, Serena!"

Serena was about to get up and spout off a comeback when Rini gasped. "Hey, look, guys! He's finally waking up!"

The others glanced over at Allen, saw him struggling to sit up, groaning in the process. Serena suddenly wondered where Amara was. With all the stories about how Allen saved _her_ hide, Amaara should be doing the same for _him_.

"How are you feeling?" Mina asked with a smile.

Allen blinked. "As fine as I should be." He put a hand to his head, groaned again. "What happened here? First I was standing in front of that game, then..." He gasped, struggled to sit up. "Amara!"

Raye put a hand to the upperclassman's shoulder to hold him down. "Don't move," she told him. "You're still too weak."

His green eyes clouded over. "Gam... Sailor Moon and the others... Gam was destroyed?"

Serena shrugged. "Seems like something that would come from a dream."

Allen snapped out of whatever daze he was in and glared at her. "That wasn't a dream! I know what I saw!"

She leaned back a little, her eyes wide at the outrage she saw lurking in his eyes now. "Okay, okay! It wasn't a dream, then!" Geez, he was scarier than Raye on a bad day!

"How much do you remember?" asked the priestess.

Allen explained to them in great detail the events that had occurred, up until his heart crystal was extracted. Serena was impressed; it was rare to find someone with so sharp a memory like that...

Allen frowned. "Then...I saw Sailor Uranus once I woke up."

Her respect for him dissipated as it came. Sailor Uranus. How could he be thinking of her when she had ditched him like that?

Why did she stay with him for so long?

Why did Neptune call for _her_ to watch his body when someone else was capable of doing that job just as perfectly?

"Did she say anything to you?" Amy asked.

He looked at the younger girl, then Serena. He shook his head. "No. Nothing. Nothing at all."

Her eyes narrowed. _He's hiding something from us..._

Allen chose this time to look down at his shirt. His eyes widened as he grasped the maroon-spotted material. "Blood?" he whispered.

Luna hopped onto Serena's shoulder. "That's Sailor Uranus's blood," she whispered into the blonde's ear. "I think that's what made him come to after she returned the heart crystal to his body."

"Maybe he knows her true identity," she whispered back to the black cat.

"We shouldn't ask him, even if he just so happens to know."

Serena nodded her head subtly. Grabbed one of Allen's arms and wrapped it around her neck. "Come on!" she grunted. "Let's take you home. You need to catch up on your strength."

Luckily, he didn't protest.

But he _did_ weigh a ton!

COPHCOPHCOPH

"You have failed me again, Kaorinite," Dr. Tomoe said.

She winced, knowing this confrontation had been coming and had been dreading it. "Those pesky Sailor brats," she growled.

"I thought you said that this time Gam was unbeatable."

That's what she had thought, as well. Apparently, she was wrong. Again. Kaorinite had watched the entire battle from across the park, thought she was doing perfectly fine unitl they had all decided to use teamwork. Then everything went down the drain.

And when Sailor Uranus had gone in between Gam and the target's body. The fate had been sealed at that moment.

"_I won't let you touch him!"_

Something was strange about those two, Uranus and Neptune. One of these days, she'd figure it out. Even if she died trying.

"Fail me too many times," Dr. Tomoe told her eerily, "and somebody else's bound to replace you."

She couldn't allow that to happen. "Next time, I promise it will be a success. We'll find the talismans, Doctor."

"I do hope you're right..."

**A/N: About the time I started typing this up, I had it in my head that Kaorinite was the one that had the note in her locker that said something like, "The snail lady died in an accident." I didn't know until I got to Chapter Ten that it was actually Eudial. And Kaorinite never died...**

**One of these days, I'm going to the Castle in the Sky homepage and looking up all of the episodes from the S season and getting the record straight. No, I won't be redoing this one. That'll be too much of a drag.**

**Just so you know, Castle in the Sky is a website for illustrated Sailor Moon episodes. They just so happen to have every one of the S season episodes listed, and I think they're only going to be there for a limited time. Good for me!**

**Three chapters left! Hurray!**

**-BDR**


	24. Chapter TwentyThree

**"CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE"**

The call had awakened him early the next morning. He was glad the message had been given to him, because he really didn't feel like going anywhere this Tuesday. All he wanted to do was stay home and think.

Think of her. Think of what she meant to him. Think of why she had given him that sorrowful look yesterday...

Suddenly, he felt restless. Forgetting his earlier promise of staying home, alone in his bed, chasing thoughts of a mystery woman around in his head, he slowly stood up and padded to one of the still-full boxes lying up against the wall. The clothes had been packed rather haphazardly in there, but he'd never been much of an organized person. Not like _she_ seemed to be.

Not a thing, not even an emotion, out of place, it seemed like.

Once he finished dressing, he slowly ambled towards the front door, grabbed his spare key, walked out to front door, locked it. Settled to let his feet go where they wanted. The sun was nowhere close to rising then, so there was no chance of seeing people he didn't know or didn't feel like talking to.

Like those six girls who had taken him to his house last night.

Or Kyo. Definitely not Kyo.

He took a deep breath. "The only one I really want to talk to probably isn't awake yet. And I have no idea where she is right now."

But he told himself this didn't matter. The only thing that _did_ matter was the next step. Figuring out where all these next steps were taking him.

Then he stopped. Looked at the gate his hand was poised over. Of course. The same spot he came to when he wanted to think. First about where he was going after moving in, second about the party and also the day they first met.

He smiled as he walked through the gate, moseyed over to the silver bleachers that reflected the moon still shining on them. He climbed up the steps, sat on the first row, and sighed nostalgically to himself. _Good times, _he thought. _Good times._

Something on the dirt track caught his eye. He looked down to see the silhouette of a figure silently running around the seemingly large arena. Swiftly, the person moved, as fast as the wind. Just like only days before. This made his smile wider.

The mystery runner skidded to a stop where she was, walked a few paces until she stood in front of where he was sitting. "You again?" came the breathless alto voice.

He saluted her a like a sailor. "Long time no see, stranger," he replied. "Ya miss me?"

She snorted, turned her head to the side and crossed her arms. "Not a bit." But the tone in her voice suggested otherwise.. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, there was a hint of a smile there... "You should still know that you're not supposed to be here now."

"Hey, I'm just supervising you. Wanted to make sure the cops didn't catch you by surprise."

"The cops aren't—" She broke off with a growl, the sound warming him a bit. "You're so frustrating!"

"Glad somebody figured out what my calling was."

The woman hesitated for a moment, reached out to grasp the metal chain-link fence with her bandaged hands. She looked up at him, probably staring him down with that look of death again. "Okay," she clipped out, "I learned the last time that you don't have a wife. But don't you have a girlfriend or something?"

"Are you suggesting something?"

"Well, no, but...someone could be getting worried about you." Her reply was softer than her question was, something that made him turn serious. For once.

"Seems to me like you're doing your own fair share of worrying."

She was silent for a while, her grip on the fence tightening. After a few moments, her body pivoted to the left, and she began to quickly walk away.

_Not again!_ he moaned to himself. "Wait!" he called. "Where are you going?"

"Away from you!"

At least she didn't say she was going home... "Hey! I'm not going to _bite_ you!"

She didn't answer, which began to tick him off.

He sighed heavily, leapt over the fence, ran towards the still-infuriating woman. He grabbed her by the shoulders and roughly spun her around, gripped her even tighter. "You haven't changed a bit, you know?" he muttered to her.

"Neither have you," she answered. Surprisingly, she didn't try to fight him like last time. But nor did she relax even the slightest bit.

The moon chose that time to show up, revealing her eyes to him. A hint of green slowed up clearly in her blue-green depths, and he rose up a hand to cup her face. "What's bothering you, Amara?"

Shock flooded her face, and she tried to take a step back. He only brought her into his arms, releasing his hold on her shoulders. "How...?" she whispered. "How do you now if my name is really Amara...?"

He smiled. "How could I not know?"

Amara glared at him, her eyes flashing to that very rare blue color. She edged out of his arms and took at least three steps back. "I have no clue what you mean," she growled.

"Your eyes could never hide things from me. As I said Sunday evening, I can read you like a book. And that's what made it easy to know it was you to begin with."

"Then why didn't you just...?"

"Ask right away? You're right, I could have. But that wouldn't seem right."

"So...you used me." She wrapped her arms around her waist. "You tried becoming my friend just so it would be easier for me to tell you. That's why you fought Kyo—"

Allen shook his head. "No. That's where you've got it wrong." He had to tell her. Quickly. But there was no way to bring it out without being straight-forward. And now isn't the time for that. "You've got it all wrong."

Amara took one step forward, the moon showing him her distraught expression. "Then why stand up for me?" she demanded.

"Because that's all my heart would tell me to do."

Another bout of shock came over her, and it saddened him a bit. What if she didn't feel the same way? "H-heart?" she stammered breathlessly.

He nodded his head slowly. "My heart would tell me to fight, my head would tell me not to. I didn't want anything bad to happen to you because..."

She raised an eyebrow. "Because?"

_Because I care about you. Because you're all I think about day and night._

_Because you're all I really have._

No. Too soon to tell her.

Amara shook her head, exhaling a deep breath. "Not going to tell me, huh?" She pivoted again. "I knew it," she said, walking off. "I was right. You're no better than Kyo."

The anger rushed through his veins, bubbling like hot water. _You're no better than Kyo..._ Those few words made him quickly step towards her, grab her and pin her back to his chest. As he wrapped his arms firmly around her waist, he felt her body stiffen. And all he could think of to do was gently stroke her upper arm with a callused thumb. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Didn't mean to grab you like that?"

"Then why did you?" she asked coldly.

"You were trying to get away too soon. I didn't like that, so I had to find some way to make you stay."

"There were a lot of better ways..." she muttered.

He loosened his grip as he inhaled the light feminine scent of her. Lilacs, he remembered. "You don't seem like a perfume person."

"I'm not." Her voice had lost some of its strain, but she was still tense. "It's soap. Michelle's idea, not mine."

"Kind of figured. Michelle seems like the kind of person who would suggest something like that." Allen smiled as the memories flooded into his mind. "The last time I held you this close was Sunday night. There, I could smell this again."

"You're forgetting yesterday."

"That was out of comfort, honey. I mean holding you...like I absolutely needed to or else I would die."

"Die?" Her hands clasped his arms and she tried to tug them off of her. "Now I've heard everything!"

He ignored her and went on. "I enjoyed picking on you, just to see your eyes change. From green to blue and back again. But I've noticed...they've been green a lot lately. More and more things seemed to be bothering you. And all I could do was watch."

"Sometimes that's all you can do," Amara whispered, "when you see someone suffer."

That one comment strengthened his facts even more. There was no way he could be wrong about her now. Even if she tried to protest.

She cleared her throat. "Sorry. You were saying?"

And she was being offhanded again. What he desperately needed to know was why she thought she could lock him out when he most likely had a spare key to her heart. Then again, she probably wasn't used to surrendering. Which was what drew him to her. "You remember when I said that your stubbornness was one of the main things I loved about you?"

Her body stiffened even more. "Yeah. Y-you were joking about that."

He didn't miss that hint of pain that she revealed in her voice. "No." He placed his mouth near her ear, whispered, "That wasn't a joke. I meant it."

There was a light gasp. "Allen...you can't—"

"Since day one, you've wanted to do things your way. No highway option. Other girls would have done the opposite. You kept telling me you could stand up for yourself, but all you did was take the blows. And where other women would cry, you refused to."

She just kept shaking her head. "You're not supposed to..."

"Too late. I've fallen hard for you." He sighed softly. "That's why I stood up for you all those times. Didn't want you hurt, because I cared too much. And I couldn't stop it from coming."

Amara soon began to tremble, though it wasn't the same as it had been yesterday. Her nails dug into his arms. "I've got too many secrets, Allen. You can't possibly be in love with me."

"I know," he murmured.

"Then stop this foolishness and let me—"

"I know what you're hiding."

At last, she broke free. And he let her, just so he could look into her now-green eyes. Her arms wrapped around her waist again, probably trying to stop the small tremors racking her body. "What?"

"I rescued you, so it's fitting that you rescue me, right?"

Amara shook her had frantically. "I don't under—"

"I know who you are...Sailor Uranus."

**A/N: Dun dun DUN!!**

**-BDR**


	25. Chapter TwentyFour

**A/N: It has been years since I've been able to watch the S season, so don't be so surprised if I botch all of this up.**

"**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR"**

"_I know who you are...Sailor Uranus."_

All she could do was stare at him. Sailor Uranus... How could he have known? What everyone else had struggled to figure out and she had masterfully covered, he had been able to know? Within only six days?

Allen shrugged. "One glimpse into your eyes, and I knew. Plus, your personalities are the same."

Because he had provoked her most of the time! Could he not see? Around everyone else, she was as detached from her other form as though Uranus never existed. But Michelle was only one who knew. But that was because she was family. And they both shared a mission.

"I have to admit, that Sailor Moon kid looked like a ditz. She couldn't stand a chance."

"But," she finally said, "if your memory needs a little boost, that _ditz_ beat that thing on the first try!"

He nodded his head. "Tell me about Uranus. I'm interested."

Interested? By the time she was through, she'd have him packing, the mission was too complex. Which would prove that he didn't care, that everything he had said was all a sham, and he'd use this knowledge against her...

Something told her she was wrong. That everything he had done, said, was genuine. That she could trust him. And if he decided he didn't love her anymore, she would have no choice but to keep him as a friend, a confidant if Michelle couldn't listen to reason. Killing him wasn't an option, never had been.

Amara sighed shakily. Lowered her eyes to the dirt track. "I work with Sailor Neptune. Michelle, if you must know. We've had our sights set on one mission for a while now. The Silence is approaching, and we need to find the three sacred talismans to reveal the Holy Grail. Which...only the true Messiah can wield."

"Talismans," was all he said.

She nodded slowly. "The Space Sword, Deep Mirror, and Garnet Orb. The enemy wants these three items to himself, so he could use the Holy Grail for evil. All we need to do is get there before him, take the talismans for ourselves."

"Any luck?"

"None. All of the targets have pure hearts...but none are pure enough to hold a talisman."

She heard him take a step towards her. "Amara—"

"No. Stay where you are. If you're wanting to know it all, you might as well keep your distance and let me finish." Her eyes narrowed as the pain in her palms started up again, only ceasing from the time she had seen Allen sitting on the bleachers... "It's the least I can do."

"Go on."

Amara raised her gaze to his sorrowful one again. He truly looked like he wasn't going to argue with her. For that, she loved him even more. Any other man would have pushed her...but not him. Not him. "Every fight we have to go through, I always wait for the heart crystal to appear, and then I make my move. There's no room for mistakes, and it's easy to make sure there _are_ none. By measuring our steps, judging what moves are going to be made next, never letting our guards down. Never worrying about the target himself." She shook her head. "They're just pawns to Neptune and me."

"Yet you broke all of your own rules just to try and save me."

"Of course. I had to pay you back. All those times you fought Kyo... I had to do something in return."

Allen didn't say a word like anyone else might have. But she knew what he would say. That the best payment was seeing her still alive...or something like that.

"Both fights, I had let my guard down because, like you, my only thought was to keep you safe. I didn't care about the mission. I didn't care if I had to make sacrifices. All I felt was fear. And pain." The throbbing intensified, and she clenched her fists in an attempt to stop it.

A long silence passed between them. A long, echoing silence. All she wanted was for him to say something, anything. Tell her to continue. Tell her good-bye. Tell her he still loved her...or that he never wanted to see her again. _Allen, talk to me. I hate being in the dark like this..._

"You risked your life to save me," he finally murmured.

Amara let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "I didn't care about what happened to me. When I first found out you were the next target, my world...stopped." Suddenly, it felt like her heart had been stabbed with a knife, the pain making it hard to breathe. The sensation she felt in her palms suddenly grew until they felt like flames, all because millions of scenarios rushed through her mind. First seeing his heart for the first time...then what would have happened if he had held a talisman.

A hand touched her shoulder, that one bit of contact bringing her back to reality. Allen reached down to take her wrist, lifting her hand so he could undo one of the bandages. The deep scar he uncovered made him wince, but he never stepped back. "And...how'd you get this?"

She swallowed, pulling in yet another breath. "Gam was threatening to kill you. I had stepped in at the last minute and..."

"_I won't let you touch him!"_

He nodded slowly. "I understand." He then softly placed his lips on her forehead, right where the jewel of her tiara would be if she were transformed. "Thank you," he murmured.

Her heart stuttered, just as it always seemed to do when he showed affection like this. Since he bared his heart to her, it was only natural that she should do the same. Only she didn't know how to begin. She didn't know how to explain it all. Confessions were never really her strong point.

"Sacrifices," he then said. "Explain that concept to me. I don't quite get it."

Amara felt all of her muscles tense up again. Large territory. But at least he prepared an opening for her. That's all that mattered. "During our mission, people we hold close are bound to get hurt. There's a chance that the enemy might find out who we are, and they'll take away special people. Then...there are just people that jeopardize the mission and make us want to go after our own desires instead of what's important. So we can't get close to anybody, make friends...fall in love."

Allen smiled warmly. "Fall in love, huh?"

She looked away again. _Don't look at me that way. It's for our own good._

_But you can't deny it anymore. Go on and admit it. Just so there won't be any doubt in both your hearts._

"Falling in love is a hindrance," she whispered. "Only foolish people go through with it so easily. And I wanted nothing to do with it. Until I met you. After that, everything changed." She smiled to herself. "That night we first met, I was afraid you were going to use me for your own enjoyment, just as I had heard other women say from time to time. But then you kept bugging me, and I opened up even more. Mistook the emotions I was feeling for anger. All those times you kept on pestering me, I unknowingly let you in. And then...I just slipped."

"Slipped," Allen parroted.

She shrugged her shoulders, looked him in the eyes again. "It took me until Sunday night to figure out that I had fallen in love with you. But, instead of feeling joyous, I was in misery. I didn't want to come out and say it because...well, I thought you hadn't made the connection that Ten'ou and Amara were one and the same. I figured you never would."

"But after that recent incident with Kyo—"

"After that recent incident with Kyo, there was still that chance that you only thought of me as a friend. Then, with Uranus thrown in the mix, there was a chance that I would have to sacrifice my heart...or that you felt something for Sailor Uranus."

His green eyes narrowed, smoldering with confusion. "Is that even possible?"

"Happens to people in the acting world all the time. Love the parts they play, feel nothing towards the person playing the part."

"I said your name during that last battle, you know."

Amara winced. "I know. Thought it must have been a slip of the tongue or a hallucination you were having. After all...you _did_ have your heart taken out."

"Could have been nothing compared to the agony I'd be going through if you didn't love me like I love you." He chuckled. "Similar to dying."

She glared at him. "Everything's death with you."

He burst out into full-fledged laughter, pulled her into his arms and held her close. "No, honey. Not everything."

She softly inhaled his scent, loving how it felt to be held in his arms again. It brought her back to Sunday night, back in that cheap imitation of a ballroom. When he had tipped her back—out of the blue, it seemed—flashing her that charming smile of his. "I love you," she murmured.

All he could seem to think of doing was tilt her face up to kiss her softly. Then parted from her to say, "Almost forgot. I received a phone call from the principal about thirty minutes ago. Says school's out for the day. Mind spending a day with me?"

Amara laughed, put her still-bandaged hand to her head. "You're still horrible at that, you know!"

Allen linked her arm in his. "Oh, well. I'll get the hang of it one of these days."

COPHCOPHCOPH

All six heads rounded the corner of the locker room to look on as the couple walked off. Lita growled. "Did anybody catch that second part?" she demanded.

At the other shaking heads, Serena moaned. All they had been able to hear was Allen's pronouncement of love, followed by Amara's. But nothing in between. Now they didn't have all of the details to tease the older girl with!

Raye smiled, crossing her arms. "A happy ending, either way."

Serena smiled at the priestess. "You know absolutely _nothing_ about meddling in other people's business! The key is to get _all_ the information!"

"Maybe I don't _want_ to meddle! Maybe I'm just curious about some things!"

Amy put a hand in between the two girls like a referee. "Calm down, guys. Let's face the facts. They're hooked together, and that's all that matters." She gave them a look of discomfort. "Now can we _please_ go to school now? I don't want his to be on my record."

The others groaned. "Amy!" they chorused. "Can't you think about anything but school?"

"I think Amy is right!" an outraged, nagging voice said from behind them. "You six have better go to class now or I will hand-write a note to each of your parents telling them _everything_ you girls have been up to!"

They all turned around to see Luna glaring at them, standing in a kitty fighter's stance.

Serena wailed. "You're no fair! I'd have sent you to the animal shelter by now if Raye hadn't stopped me!"

Raye grabbed the blonde ditz by the collar of her uniform, promptly dragging her along. "Come on, Meatballhead. Time to go," she grounded out.

The others just looked on and sighed.

"What are we ever going to do about them?" asked Mina.

"Absolutely nothing," the others replied.

"But it's two hours early!" they heard Serena whine.

**A/N: Epilogue time!**

**-BDR**


	26. Epilogue

"**EPILOGUE"**

"So you knew it the whole time," mused the younger girl.

Michelle smiled, nodded her head as she swirled the straw in her tea. "Of course. Women hang around my cousin all the time. It's rare for a man to follow her around like that. Which means he's always known about her."

The aqua-haired girl had asked the youngest Musashi to come with her on a "trip" early that morning, basically following Amara to the track. Michelle had been giving her key tips in moving around unnoticed; to make sure the older woman didn't sense their presence and single them out.

Of course, going to see this confrontation also meant revealing their identities to Latoya. But Michelle had figured the girl could be trusted since it broke said girl's heart when promises were broken.

"_Sailor Soldiers?" Latoya whispered, her yellow eyes wide._

_Michelle placed a hand on the younger girl's head. "Yes. We're Sailor Soldiers. But you have to promise not to mention it to Kyo. Or even give a single hint to Amara that you know."_

_It was probably the thought of Amara's wrath that brought this on, but she nodded her head in agreement. "I give you my word."_

"Hey," Latoya said quietly, "do you think our plan had something to do with it? I mean, if Amara had gone on Sunday...but Allen didn't...maybe she wouldn't have found out she was in love. Maybe Allen wouldn't have a chance to mention what he knew."

"Don't forget what happened between my cousin and your brother." Michelle shrugged. "We don't' know how things would have panned out if we hadn't interfered. All that matters is that we did."

The younger girl laughed. "Yeah! And so did those other girls!"

Michelle laughed as well, but she couldn't help but wonder. She had given each group a flashlight to signal with that Sunday night. How would they have communicated with each other if they didn't use the flashlights? The question was mind-consuming, so she put it on the back burner for now.

She'll figure it out, though. Sooner or later, she'll find out.

"Where's the couple now?"

Latoya's question pt Michelle's musings out of mind, and she tried to remember what Amara had told her on the communicator. "Something about a stroll through the park. Then I think Amara said something about challenging Mina for a round of F1 racing at the arcade."

The purple-haired girl wrinkled her nose. "I figured they'd never want to look at another video game again."

"Well, you have to understand that, besides Allen, you're the only one who knows who we are. They have no choice but to bounce back, even after something traumatic like that. Otherwise, everyone would get suspicious."

"Why be so secretive? Why not—"

Knowing exactly where she was going, Michelle interrupted. "Can't trust anyone with who we are. We don't know who they'd run and tell. We don't know if something like that could jeopardize our lives."

Latoya frowned. "I gust it now," she muttered. "Kind of like me..."

She didn't push for details, gave the girl some thinking time like she normally did. Through the years, she's learned how to wait patiently. Knowing that if the next person wanted to talk about something personal, it would come out with time.

"Why?" Michelle heard her asking. "Why are you being so nice to me when...?"

_When Amara wouldn't._ "I don't have any history with your brother. Amara's set in her ways. She thinks that since you two are related, you're a lot alike."

"But we're not!" Latoya's bright yellow eyes flashed with defiance. "I'm nowhere close to being Kyo! He's—" Again, she stopped where she was and looked down at her hands. "Is anyone going to see that I'm Latoya, not just a Musashi?"

Michelle chose her words cautiously, staring at this girl who had just turned fifteen two months prior. _She's too young,_ she thought. "The only way others are going to see it is if you prove it," she told the girl. "Don't worry about what everybody else says and do what you need to."

"Easier said than done, Michelle." Latoya sighed heavily, stood up from her chair. "Thanks. For everything. Need me to pay?"

She shook her head. "No. I can handle it. You go on ahead."

Latoya gave her a sad smile, bowed in respect. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she turned and walked off.

Michelle walked as her young friend ambled down the sidewalk, away from the round table t hey had been communicating at not too long ago. "Amara's doing fine now," she muttered to herself. "Now Latoya's the one I'm concerned about. Having a brother like Kyo. I wonder what that's like."

That strange sense of importance drifted over her again. "Gotta make sure he doesn't kill her," she found herself saying. "Just until I figure out what this sense is about."

_She's too young,_ her mind whispered. _She's too young._

For what?

COPHCOPHCOPH

Latoya looked up at the noonday sun, remembering what her best friend—her only friend—had told her. _"The only way others are going to see it is if you prove it..."_

But how? Her brother scared her more than anything else in this world. She couldn't just stand up to him like Allen did three times straight? He'd kill her. Or make her pay...

At first, the whole reason she went to Michelle was because she didn't want anyone else hurt, killed by her brother's bare hands. All those plans he had told her about... Now it seemed personal. Now that she and Michelle were friends, she had to make it up to her.

Friends. The term still made her uneasy. No one else took her seriously, just because her brother was Kyo Musashi. Like Amara, they all thought she was a cold-blooded killer, just like her brother. Truth was, death frightened her. She'd rather _save_ people, not _do away_ with them!

"_I'm nowhere close to being Kyo...!"_

And her friend had believed her. Stood by her. Invited her places when everyone else would ignore her. Ever since she transferred her a few weeks ago, she had tried to make friends...but it seemed like once she stopped trying, she found someone who trusted her.

Latoya stopped where she was, now looking at the ground below her feet. _"Thanks,"_ she had said. _"For everything."_ But "thanks" wasn't adequate enough. Nothing ever would be.

"I'm lost," she whispered to no one in particular. "I'm so...so lost..."

**COMPLETE!**

**A/N: The continuation of this story will begin in a few short (long) weeks. Here, we will learn about Latoya Musashi's past and we'll even meet a few new people. And we will figure out what this strange importance is...**

**-BDR**


End file.
